Nearly became an article in tomorrow's newspaper

I had yet another long night at work on Friday. I had some calls and some work as well, till around 4 AM. I didn't want to drive back at that hour and so decided to spend some more time at the desk itself, so that I could leave around 5.30.

I somehow managed to doze off for 30 minutes in the meantime and managed to leave the office some 5-10 minutes before 6 AM. I was actually quite fresh by then and so had no issues while driving home.

However, I started getting sleepy when I neared Adyar. That's when I made my mistake. Whenever I drive at such odd hours, I usually chew some gum or the other just to ensure that my eyes don't doze off.

This morning however, I felt a bit of acidity and so decided not to chew gum. And since I was in Adyar, I told myself that it was only a short distance and ignored chewing gum.

I drove along Besant Avenue and was near the curve in front of the Scout camp. Frequent users of the road would remember the presence of a speed-breaker at the start of the curve.

I distinctly remember going over the speed-breaker on the fourth gear itself. I was doing like a rolling-stop - reduced speed but on the same gear. That's when I kinda passed out I think!

Next thing I saw was that I was actually rounding off the curve and there was a middle-aged couple walking on the road. If the car had continued along its line, I would have surely hit the lady at some 30 Kmph. I got a real rude wake-up call and reacted quickly, applied the brakes and swerved the car away from the lady.

But since it was a curve and since it was sandy in that area and since I was at a reasonable speed, there was quite a bit of screeching noise. Next thing I recollect, I was having thoughts that I had skidded and was having a tail spin.

But somehow I managed to control the car and bring it back on track and proceeded. There was an auto guy in front of me and he moved quite a distance to his left and let me pass him. While I was passing him, I looked at him and he was giving me a weird look that said "kaalang kaaarthala vandhuttaan paaru saavu giraakki".

All this happened in a matter of less than 5 seconds, ok. And to be specific, the time that I must have dozed off would have been around 2 seconds. In fact most of the events are quite blurry to me, even now. I distinctly remember a violet colored sari clad lady directly on the path of my car, screeching noises and an angry stare.

After I reached home around 7 AM, I initially decided to freshen up, have my coffee and some biscuits. Then the plan was to call up some of my team members to find out if anyone could come to work later in the day. I thought of calling them around 8.

I went up to my room to get out of the clothes that I'd been wearing for the last 24 hours. I saw my bed and literally fell on it. I hadn't even switched on the fan and was lying diagonally across the bed. Since its only a single bed, my head was sorta on the edge and one leg was actually resting on the floor. Yet, I fell asleep.

I have vague recollection of my parents coming in to check on me frequently. I got up at 10, because I had to make the calls to the people. I dragged myself out of bed and by 11, I had consumed coffee and few biscuits and had some energy to call up people and earn their wrath for asking them to come over the weekend.

I had a relaxed lunch and then dozed off on my sofa for some 45 minutes before a series of phone calls woke me up. I came to the office (the one closer home) around 4.30 PM. Am still here (9 PM) and I think a long night lies ahead of me tonight as well.

But I am barely able to keep my eyes open. I think I will try to leave home by midnight and hope to sleep the Sunday off!

All in all, I think its only some left over karma from my previous incarnations and more importantly, those of my parents, that saved me from running over that lady or getting into an accident or in other words - it saved me from being mentioned in the daily vernaculars.