Driving in Rain

“Mam,  Apa sir’s daughter is unconscious. She is being referred to Jomotsangha but there isn’t a single vehicle at this hour” said the caller as soon as I picked up phone. I was in dilemma as it was getting dark and I had never driven at night owing to my poor vision and the road to Jomotsangkha was very rough owing to constant rainfall.

“ I am coming to Apa sir’s place. Tell them to get ready” saying that I shut down my laptop, grabbed the keys and rushed out as the baby’s life was at stake.

On reaching the place, I saw everyone gathered there and many were openly crying looking at the unconscious child. I rushed inside the room and picked up the unconscious baby and asked the parents to follow me to the waiting car that I had parked some distance away. Some friends and acquaintance followed us till the waiting car.

 It was dark as we started moving and it started drizzling which turned into heavy downpour as we drove further.  Some minutes later it became very difficult for me to drive fast. After covering some distance I felt the gravel falling on my rooftop and I prayed hard as I increased my speed on the bumpy road. I didn’t want to be buried under the heap of gravels in the middle of the night. My passengers panicked but I stayed calm and assured them that there wasn’t any danger (If they could read my mind, they would have known how scared I was).

We weren’t out of danger yet because we had to cross three streams and the rain was hitting hard on us. With that kind of rain, there was danger for the streams to swell which would make our drive risky.  I could hear the health worker sitting beside me chanting “Baza Guru” and the attendants were also doing the same. 

We could cross the first stream without much huddles but when we reached the second stream I could feel chill on my bones. The stream had swollen beyond imagination and I tried hard to cross it but the car got stuck half–a-way through it. I tried to remain calm though my knee had started shaking. Speaking calmly to my passengers I kept on trying to move forward. On third try I could finally manage to get across and breathe a sigh of relief.

Heavy downpour combined with poor vision and a patient on the back seat made my head go thump…thump but I managed to get them to the Hospital safely and in time.

The two hours drive on the bumpy road at night in heavy down pour was the task I would not wish to take again but one can never say if someone’s life depended on it.