falling from out of ennui..

Just when you think that life has absolutely no excitement, thrill, adventure and life seems to be endless series of daily drudgery.... something falls from the sky.

Literally, in this case, a four year old child from the sixth floor (American seventh floor).

I was going along with my mom and sis to give the traditional Diwali gift to family friends. Our hired car had only reached the main gate - the entrance to our Apartment complex - when suddenly a woman with frantic gestures stopped us. When mom rolled down her window, the woman told us that a child had fallen from above and she was new to the Society and didn't know who's child it was, so if we could identify him and do something... We rushed out (in semi-disbelief), but could not recognise the child. He had fallen on a parked car and then on to the concrete. He was still alive though unconscious. The gate guards and the ironing lady and other people there were trying to help but there was more panic and a loss of words and actions. None of us really knew what to do except to get him to a hospital quick. Our driver instantly picked up the boy and wanted to take him to the hospital. I told the guards to try the intercom numbers of all the apartments in that line to find out if the child was theirs. In this time, a man came down and took the child from our driver. He turned out to be the father. In panic, we sat in the car to go to the hospital. As we were about to go a woman started banging on the car windows. She turned out to be the mother. They didn't speak Hindi and were guests of one of the Society members, having come here for the same purpose we were heading out - distribution of Diwali gifts.

When we reached the hospital, my mom told my sister to guide them up to the Emergency ward since they probably didn't know the place. My sis said that the child was groaning in the lift but didn't seem to recover consciousness. My sis came back to the car, only to find that our driver had disappeared. We were already running late for our tasks and these events didn't help. The driver was late in reporting to us, then the child fell, then the driver went up to the hospital trying to find out what was going on, and when we were on our way, one of the tyres got punctured!!

It was an eventful day. But more tragic if anything. The Diwali festival is ruined for a family as their child struggles to live. We can only pray for him.

Post Script: I have been late in publishing this post, and on this day I have sad news. The boy succumbed to the injuries he sustained after struggling for 4 days in the ICU. May he rest in peace...