Strange ways of Fate

I am taken twenty years back in timeline, June, 1997 to be exact.

I was just 6-7 months into my second tenure in Kinnaur , though this time at the district Headquarters.

This fateful day the driver attached with me suddenly came with the sad news that CMO's vehicle has fallen and washed away in the Satluj. I made some inquiry myself and found that the news was true.It so transpired that the CMO along with a photographer was going to attend a medical camp when a speeding truck coming from the opposite direction hit the Jeep and the Jeep plunged into the river.A very sad incident .Only a few days back the CMO had celebrated the 13th birthday of his daughter and I had attended the birthday party along with others and now he was no more The driver and the photographer too had met their unfortunate end.The driver of the truck was arrested and the truck impounded.

I did not personally know the Jeep driver and the photographer but was told that both were quite young. The photographer ran a shop by the name of Yog Studio and also doubled as a stringer for a news paper. The newspaper had covered the news along with his photograph.Subsequently the bodies of all the three were recovered rather late at different long intervals.

Days and months went by and the incident became old .

Some personnel of the Police department,Punjab were invited to impart Yoga training especially to the local police personnel and I also attended the camp once.

After the conclusion of the camp, the visitors were taken to a village for sightseeing and the younger brother of the deceased photographer, who now was running the studio volunteered to take them in his vehicle. As they were coming back from the village , the car accidentally rolled down from the road this time due to error of judgement while driving at night.

The news was broken by the S.P. on telephone early in the morning . The home guard and police personnel were pressed into service to bring the bodies to the headquarters. As it happens in such cases, the bodies were handed over in coffins to the wailing next of kin and transportation was also arranged by the Administration besides providing immediate relief to the next of kin.

The two accidents haunt me to this day . Two brothers besides others had lost their lives in these accidents.