Falling From The Scooter

On the last Sunday morning of April I was sitting in my room with 100% determination. Sunday was the day to wrap up the entire week and get done with the workload. 

So, I was completing my mathematics homework while the sun shone outside. That’s when I heard my mother's summons. Usually, in my determined mode I seldom prefer going out on excursions for my mother but today was the day destined for my fall. So, in about five minutes I found myself sitting on the scooter with my younger brother sitting behind me on the way to the barber’s shop for his hair cut. 

I got my scooter lessons after my grade 10th board result. Initially in the training period I was nervous and jumpy while driving. But over the months I and my scooter have bonded and gone over different roads, even passed some highways. Now I knew how to glide on the scooter it no longer felt like a camel ride. 

Though my confidence has been boosted up a lot in more than a year of driving; today the scooter felt a bit heavy. With my younger brother’s recent growth spurt he has become equal to my height. We kind of look like twins now. So, it was difficult to handle the scooter but the shop was just 2 minutes away. What could probably go wrong?

My brother was chattering. He said, “If the barber would be free. I would give a thumbs down and go in but if there would be waiting, I would give a thumbs up and we would go home.” I frowned and reverted, “Why are you keeping such stupid opposite signals, if the barber would be…”

I looked ahead on the road, a speed breaker, I slowed down. I don’t know how it happened, but then everything went in slow motion for me. My brother shifted a little towards the left and clutched me. Our Center of Mass shifted to the left side and our initial velocity induced some kind of Parabolic motion as we fell. 

My brother said, “What’s happening, are we falling?” I remembered rolling my eyes and thinking, “Of course” before lunging into action. 

Like some action thriller I pushed my brother back from my left hand and my right hand supported the scooter. This way I broke their fall. 

As for me, well I did hope that I could make a portal to the soft bed at home, but sadly I can’t. 

So, I just fell, right on my knees. 

Shock, surprise, fear, astonishment, anger, shame, fear, tiredness, these emotions wrecked through me. At least, pain was not one of them so I got up quickly. The road was empty on my side. 

“We fell...” My brother spoke flatly. 

I looked at him and fear coursed through my every vein. The same fear I experienced when he nearly swallowed a bottle cap at the age of 1 or when he fell from the bed at the age of 6 and I couldn’t grab him. 

I really did hate seeing him in danger. “Are you okay?” I muttered repeatedly as I scanned his elbows, knees and face. 

I could see his left knee was grazed but just a little bit. “I am fine,” he assured me, “but you don’t look fine.” 

“Never mind,” I waved away his concerns, “I have experienced worse.” 

The people on the parallel road were giving us weird looks but no one stopped. 

I turned my attention to my scooter, my black beauty, my Chetak lay spiraled on the rough road. I lifted him tenderly, cooed assuring words to him and saw that his paint had been grazed a bit but like my brother he was okay.

“Sit back”, I ordered my brother. “I will drop you to the barber's since you are okay.” My knees were tingling but I ignored their protests. They will be tended when we get home. I dared not even look at them, lest they made my strength crumble. 

I was shaking, the scenes of the fall flashed in front of me but I forced myself to be strong. It was a ‘thumbs up’. The barber was not free so my brother hopped back and we trudged home. My scooter remained loyal and didn’t let me down. He worked properly up until we reached home.

“Mom, there’s a problem” I spoke and mom turned and looked at me and I saw the same fear in her eyes that was present in mine but now all I could feel was shame. 

Sitting on the sofa I finally saw my wounds. I admit I have experienced worse wounds on my knees, like while skating I have grazed my knees loads of times, even while learning to swim I slipped and hurt them from the rough poolside. But this one was the worst.

My left knee was totally covered in dirt. Red spots appearing out on the mud below the knee too the wound extended right above the feet. On the right side only the knee was grazed a bit but it was bruised badly, turning blueish-black in color 

The wound was then cleaned. I tried stopping my tears but they betrayed me. After cleaning the wound it felt better and I went upstairs to complete my mathematics homework. 

When the news of my fall spread my grandparents, uncle and aunt rushed over to see me. Their surprised looks when they saw me coming down the stairs without even wincing was quite funny.

“The real pain has not started yet as the wound is raw”, they all deduced. 

Then the adults shared stories of how they had fallen from the scooter in their youth. It felt good to hear that I was not the only one who committed this mistake. Moreover falling they said is a part of learning to drive. 

My father announced me as a superhero for saving my brother. I kind of felt proud then. 

The tetanus shot in the evening was a bit scary but I thought of it as the Super Soldier Serum and that helped me receive it happily. I was even given medication. Still that night was terribly painful. 

I ended up sleeping next to my mother after midnight. It was somehow easier falling asleep next to her. 

Next two days I attended online classes and stayed at home, sincerely tending my wounds. I followed this regime: Cleaning with Dettol and applying soframycin cream, and after one hour, cleaning again with Dettol and applying oil and then repeating the cycle. 

Moving with a limp wasn’t exciting, it was slow and tedious. On these two days I experienced my pens, pencils and many other things falling down a lot forcing me to painfully pick them up. 

‘Time is the greatest healer.’ My wound was getting better each day. On Wednesday came the miracle healer Betadin. On Thursday my bruises on both knees turned from bluish black to yellow. 

On Friday, I was determined to go to the institute. I patted my scooter, he had to get some wires in place and brakes tightened and now we were ready to move together .

I had to keep my left knee straight but I somehow completed my ride. The journey that took 10 mins; that day took 30 mins. Climbing 3 floors via the stairs was like scaling Mt. Everest. 

What shocked me was my friends thought I was caught in an accident while I specifically typed ‘falling from the scooter’. I took time correcting it for them all. 

My brother recovered in three days though he mourned and limped for two more days trying to get attention (he got bored of thinking of me as a superhero on Monday itself.) 

After two complete weeks I can now sit cross legged. My right knee has not even a scratch present on it and my left knee has got this new pink skin. 

Lastly, I would like to write a gratitude note for those who helped me in my recovery.

To my parents for providing diligent support as always, to my brother who helped carry my things, to my friends who helped me cope up with the backlog, my RBCs who died in the infection, my WBCs who won the war and didn’t let me fall sick, my platelets who sewed me up and last but not the least destiny who saved me.

There is always a bright side. The bright side of falling from my scooter is that, well, I got to write this article. (Caution: don’t fall from the scooter to remove the Writer's blog, the pain is not worth it). 

Moreover, falling from the scooter taught me to have a firm grip on emotions while driving. To maintain balance when someone is riding behind. I was lucky to fall two blocks away from home and not on the main road. I hope that this will be my first and last such experience.

But I can just pray and not be sure because driving is just like mathematics. You can solve tons of problems but still in the test there would be different questions. The road is also different each day, every hour, every minute. In the end, how to drive safely, well I follow my math sir’s advice, “In the end, it’s only confidence that will help you excel.”