"TRAGEDY"

It is 09:15 PM, December 27, 2003. It has been a long day, my parents are home watching TV, life is perfect and the family is complete�until they receive a phone call. Their older son Venkat has met with an accident. Every parent�s nightmare has suddenly become a chilling reality for them.

Around 8:45 pm, Venkat was returning home on his Hero Honda motorbike from the family farm house at Anneparthy village located just 8 kms away. The night was unusually foggy with very poor visibility. Little did he know that just 1 mile away from home, at the entrance to Nalgonda town near the railway bridge, an old oil tanker with no tail lights and no radium signs was parked completely blocking one lane of the two-way road. As he neared the railway bridge, the headlights of a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction shone in his eyes, and with the thick fog making viewing even more difficult, he ran straight into the oil tanker never knowing what hit him. He sustained a number of massive injuries including severe head trauma.

"UNFORTUNE"

Being a cold and foggy night, people had returned to their homes early and the streets were almost empty. Of the few people present at the site, no one came near or tried to offer help to the bleeding and unconscious man, thinking the victim was probably some stranger. Venkat lay there bleeding for 15 or 20 crucial minutes. Meanwhile, the owner of the oil tanker arrived at the spot after receiving a call from its driver about the incident and identified Venkat and called my parents.

Shock sets in and they start to shake and say "No!" Tears don't fall, just an uncontrollable shake. How can they believe this! They try to comprehend and comfort all at the same time, but what can they say? What can they do? The answer is NOTHING, not a thing! From this point on, their life will never be the same again.

As my parents and Venkat�s beloved wife rush towards the site of the accident, people have begun gathering around having found out that the victim is Venkat, whom they know very well. A man who works for Venkat in the rice mill is passing by. He stops, puts Venkat in the back of his auto trailer with his legs dangling to the road and, out of lack of presence of mind, drives towards home instead of the hospital. The car with my parents and the auto carrying Venkat cross each other along the way unnoticed. My parents reach the accident spot, panic as they see all the blood on the road, and rush to the hospital, assuming somebody must have taken Venkat to the hospital. They go first to the government hospital and then to two more private hospitals enquiring about Venkat, but there is no sign of him anywhere. On the other end, there is nobody home except a cousin when the man arrives with Venkat in his trailer. She is shocked and does not know what to do. In the meantime, Venkat�s older sister and her husband have been informed and they arrive home and immediately take him to the Govt. hospital in the same auto trailer.

By the time my parents finally found out where their son was and returned to the government hospital, a lot of his friends and well-wishers had already gathered at the hospital. After pre- diagnosis, the Nalgonda hospital doctors informed them that it was a very serious and complicated case and that he needed to be taken to a super specialty hospital in Hyderabad as soon as possible. Immediately, the ambulance and everybody in their cars hit the road to Hyderabad but, as luck would have it, they were stuck in a traffic jam for almost an hour. With the help of an MLA from Nalgonda who is a good friend of Venkat, they somehow managed to make way for just the ambulance to pass through and finally, at 2:45 in the morning, Venkat was admitted to Kamineni Hospital, six hours after the tragic collision.

Venkat was in a coma, struggling hard for his life. He is a strong guy and tried to stay with us, with the help of artificial ventilators he fought for almost 24 hours but his tired heart gave out and on 29th December 2003, he succumbed to his injuries.


"PERSON"

Venkat was a dynamic and intelligent young man, just 35 years old, with his life and dreams ahead of him. By profession, he was an advocate and a good businessman, looking after the family business. As the older son of the family, he was very responsible and was a good son, husband, father and brother, but most of all, he was a good friend and a helping hand for the people and society.

This is the last photo taken of Venkat alive. A couple of hours later he was dead, taking his hopes and dreams with him.



The impact this has had on my family is indescribable. I can't recall exactly how my parents coped with the numbness that took over. Because of someone else's mistake and lack of responsibility, their son had to lose his beautiful life.

Today, the only message I would like to pass on through Venkat�s story is:

Live for today but make plans for tomorrow - and see them through.

 


"Kuthuru Venkat Reddy Story still more to come" .






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