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It was the 25th of November 1992. It was also the day of the bus strike. I was walking down a busy thoroughfare. Scooters zigzagged in and out of the mid day traffic some even trespassing on the narrow footpaths. Scooterists and car drivers glared at each other, some of them muttering and swearing under their breath, while the poor pedestrians were left to fend for themselves.

My attention was drawn to an elderly man negotiating his bike cautiously through the swirling traffic with his wife clutching to him with nervousness. Suddenly out of nowhere a bus appeared and stopped on the opposite side of the road. There was a crowd of people each fighting for a place on the bus for themselves, not bothered about the traffic which came to a screeching halt as a result of this. All of a sudden a woman darted from across the road right into the path of the old couple. The old man, so as to avoid hitting the woman, jammed his brakes. The impact was so great that the elderly couple were flung off their bike and onto the road. The offending woman, oblivious of what she had done, disappeared into the bus unharmed.

A crowd gathered around the victims. The couple was unconscious. Suggestions poured out from the crowd "Spray some soda water on them" "Call the doctor" "Wake them up" some even suggested calling a priest!! But nothing was done.

After a few minutes, the old man came to, and when he found his bearings, he was shocked to find his wife bleeding from the head with convulsions. He tearfully pleaded to everyone to help him but the crowd began to melt away.

I wanted to help, but somehow held back. I thought maybe I would draw too much attention with my heroics, so was bashful. Then perhaps I might cause more harm by handling the injured on account of my inexperience. The police could then make my life a misery by slapping charges on me. So why me when there are so many also who can help? With those thoughts, I too slunk away. After some time a passing car was stopped and the unconscious woman was put into the vehicle and the vehicle sped of to the nearest hospital with the old man. That was the last I saw of them. The police arrived at the scene, marked the accident site, questioned a few people and went away.

The next day I read the papers. I found a small article about the accident. The old woman had succumbed to her head injuries!