It must have been 1973 or 74. I was riding my scooter in Pune. I was in no hurry. It was around 5 PM. As I tried to overtake a 3-wheeler, it suddenly went dark for me. Next when I gained consciousness for a few seconds, I found myself in a 3-wheeler and someone was sitting beside me. I had no idea who the person was and where he was taking me, but I was not interested in finding out. What I did notice was lots of blood spots on my clothes. Only thing that I did, out of survival instinct, was to hold on to his arm tightly and begged him, “please don’t leave me alone, please don’t leave me alone”.
The god-sent good Samaritan replied that he won’t. After that I passed out again. When I became conscious again, I was inside a doctor’s clinic lying on a stretcher. I saw a doctor, and few familiar faces around me who were my colleagues from Philips (I was with Philips, Pune in those days.). One of my colleagues told me that I was picked up from the road after my scooter met with an accident. The doctor asked a few basic questions in order to rule out possibility of internal head injury; “What time of the day might it be right now? What is your name? Where do you live?”. Once he was sure that there is no internal injury, he treated me for quite a few external injuries.
At this point a colleague of mine from the production department told me that a Philips worker, who was standing nearby at a vegetable shop, recognized me lying on the road and brought me here to this clinic and also informed him about me. When I enquired about the worker, I was told that he had already left the place, leaving a message for me that he will get the scooter repaired and hand it over once it is ready. I got the treatment done and I went home.
After a couple of days, when I resumed work, I located this worker, thanked him profusely and asked him what was he doing at that place of accident, and how I met with the accident. He said, “That day morning, I just didn’t feel well enough to go to the factory and I told my wife that I am taking a day off. Later around 5 PM, my wife told me to get some vegetables from the market. I was standing at the vegetable shop and I saw this scooter hitting a road divider; sliding a few meters to stop near that shop dragging you along all the way. I recognized you, put you in a 3-wheeler, and requested the shopkeeper to look after your scooter till I returned. Since I didn’t know you by name, I decided to take you to a clinic near another Philips executive’s home so that I can take his help in getting you quick treatment.” I just couldn’t express my gratitude to him since I had tears in my eyes. But he was really a god-send, since his decision to take leave that day, led him in taking care of me at this critical time.
How God creates coincidences in your life, while you are completely unaware. Every time I am going through a rough patch, I get this inspiration from within, “God is there with you, so don’t worry. Just do what best you can do!”
