Accident on NH5 on 16 September 2009

Dear Sir / Madam,

Sub: Accident on NH5 on 16 September 2009

This is with reference to the captioned subject. If you don’t own any Honda City car (it could be another brand of Honda – but Honda it was for sure) then I apologize for directing this letter to a wrong address and you may kindly ignore this letter. But if you – the resident of “17, Vani Vihar*” – indeed are the owner of the aforementioned vehicle, I request you to read on.

The accident occurred at the signal on the CRP square (it could also have been the other square east to it on NH5) in Bhubaneswar between 7-7:30 AM on 16 September 2009. I was riding my bicycle (Trek 3700) when the signal turned red and I hit the brakes so hard to avoid colliding with the Honda car right in front of me that I was tossed in the air and my body hit the rear side of the car (the upper portion of my right chest just below the shoulder still hurts as I write this letter).

Before I proceed further, let me first apologize to you that I collided with your car. I should have been more careful about the timing and finesse of application my brakes. As far as the speed was concerned, I was under no circumstances going beyond 35kmph – probably high for regular cyclists but not dangerous enough for the general traffic on road. I was doing a time-trial of 40kilometers and only 6 more kilometres were left for me to finish my loop when the ill-fated accident occurred.

After recovering my balance, I had a look at the portion of the car where I had hit it. I could not discover any damage. I should have had paid more attention to the small scratch that I would later be informed about. Since this accident had occurred right on the highway, it was prudent for me to clear the bicycle off the road. I also needed to confirm if the bicycle was still in a working condition. Therefore I resumed my ride. The gear-changer set had displaced but the bicycle rolled without any difficulty. By this time the signal had turned green and for lack of any reason to remain there, I proceeded towards my Sahid Nagar guest house.

After I had ridden for a kilometre or two, the same Honda City pulled over in front of me and when I saw the driver and a madam coming out and signaling me to stop, I stopped. Thereafter in the most courteous way, I was shown a small scratch on the body of the car, slightly above the rear number plate. I apologized to the madam who was on her way to drop off her two daughters to their school and asked her how I could pay for my mistake. Dear madam was generous enough in requesting me to pay Rs. 2000/- (two thousand rupees only) as repair fee for the scratch rendered on the car, to which I readily agreed. The issue was that, at that moment I was not carrying any cash / credit-card or even any i-card – which again I must say was utter carelessness on my part.

Finally, it was mutually agreed upon by both parties (dear madam and me) that a) my Adidas sunglasses (which were procured less than a week ago at meager cost of Rs.3,200 only) and b) my Fastrack wrist watch (the cost for which I do not know because it had been gifted to me by my sister on the even of 2008 Rakshabandhan Festival) – would serve as valid security deposit with madam, until the time I paid to her Rs. 2,000 as repair charges.

Having thus explained the entire incident to you, let me once again profusely apologize for today’s accident. Please also pass on my apologies to madam’s daughters who might have gotten late to their classes because of the extended duration of the dispute settlement that ensued post the accident. I fully understand the importance of reaching school on time – I have myself been a studious student – both in school and later during my graduation and post graduation years at IIT Madras.

If this letter has reached the correct address and if you are in a position to pass on this letter to dear madam described above (I must have asked her name – I regret not noting down the obvious information), then may I please request you to confirm the same so that I can immediately pay for the damage rendered to your good vehicle.

As far as the pair of sunglasses and the wrist-watch are considered, I leave their fate on you. I certainly wouldn’t like to have them back if by the time this letter reaches you, they have already become the priced possession of any of your family members or staff.

Before I end, in the event that you are very sure that this letter has reached a wrong person / address and that you never had any Honda car, I still plead you to let me know about the error.

Regards,

Amrit Vatsa

*address changed for confidentiality’s sake

PS: Well, the letter was delivered by my driver later in the afternoon yesterday after the morning’s imbroglio. The recipient confirmed that the letter had certainly reached the right address. The sarcasm worked – I was asked to please collect my possessions which I did in the evening. Of course, I didn’t have to pay a single buck. At the house the dog was still the dog, but this time one with a wagging tail and a lolling head. Dragon’s hubby was in shorts and told me they were sorry if I felt insulted and how the dragon would not have erupted fire, lava and all those hot things had she known who I was. Mr. shorts also put forth a background to explain why the the dragon had turned into a dragon – why the otherwise curt mem like his wife must have had lost her temper unnecessarily – too many autos hit and bang and run away, we have been facing such things since such a long time that we are so totally fed up and irritated. Anyway, so goes on life! Long live dragons and dogs! And longer live cyclists! 😛