Lunch Break: The Lunch that Broke Me

Wikipedia defines HELL as a place of suffering during afterlife where the wicked or unrighteous souls are punished. I would like to believe that I am neither ‘wicked’ nor ‘unrighteous’ and yet, I was subjected to hellish treatment this weekend. Well, it was rather a LONG weekend which began on Thursday afternoon, but it was definitely not a pleasant one.

So it was just another Thursday, when I got off the call with my boss and decided to get some lunch. But clearly, life had other plans. So one minute, I am crossing the road, and the next, I find myself flung on the road, my shoes and my skirt torn, and bruises on my ribs, hands and left leg. But wait, the worst is yet to come: my right leg simply refuses to move and there was a swelling the size of the cricket ball just below my knee. I kid you not (if I wanted to exaggerate, I would have said it was as big as a football)…

The culprit was one of those young bikers with flowing hair and a headband, who was also thrown off the bike, but I would never know how badly hurt he was as he gathered himself up and quickly rode away before the crowd could thrash him. Now, I would like to believe that I was the innocent victim, but as fair as I am, I know I am probably not the MOST cautious person while crossing streets. Still, the decent thing would have been to wait and help me, and for the record, I would have never ever pressed charges.

The next couple of hours were a blur, as I was helped by kind strangers who put me into an auto and a very kind friend who took me through the agonizing experience of a trip to the hospital, as I alternated between tears and laughter. I don’t know why I cried so much (physical pain is directly proportional to the feeling of vulnerability) but I do know I laughed because it was kind of fun being pushed around in a wheelchair as I couldn’t help wishing for this luxury every morning when I struggled to get an auto for work. Thankfully, the x-ray didn’t reveal any serious damage, and after a dose of injection and some routine tests I was let off. Since then I have been numbed by extremely strong painkillers, surviving on takeaway food and episodes of The Big Bang Theory. Now who would have thought that Penny would end up sleeping with Raj: even I wouldn’t have done that, despite the mind-numbing painkillers.

If that wasn’t enough, my fridge broke down and flooded my kitchen which meant that I couldn’t even fix myself a quick snack even if I did manage to drag myself till there. Suddenly my 500 sq feet hole of an apartment seemed like a soccer ground.

But the good part of adversity is that it reinforces that there are people who care about you, who rush to your rescue no matter how busy they are, who put up with your histrionics, who brave the rains/broken down autos/sickness/mean bosses to be there for you, to cook for you or simply to scold you over the phone…

So thank you… who know who you are! Kindness never ceases to surprise me…