The Accident

My name is Anjali. I was only twenty-four years old when this incident happened. I was married to a handsome Air Force Pilot, Squadron Leader Ranjith Singh. Ranjith and I had met at a Pub a few months back and it was love at first sight. We had dated for only about four months when he had proposed to me and I had said yes to him. We were both heads over heels in love with each other. We had informed our parents of our decision. They had readily agreed. After a brief meeting of our parents, the wedding date had been finalized and we were married in another couple of months. Coming to think of it now, everything had happened so soon.

Our wedding had taken place in Delhi where my parents stayed. After the wedding, we stayed at my parent's house for about a week's time. After one week, we took a train to Agra where Ranjith was currently stationed. The train journey was short and it took us only about three hours to reach Agra. It was nearly noon when we reached Agra. It was the month of July and it was hot. The temperature was around 31 degrees and the humidity was also very high. It had been raining the last week but the high humidity was making us sweat very badly. We had quite a bit of luggage with us. Ranjith had said that some people from his office would be coming to help us with transporting the luggage.

On reaching the station, we found that no one had arrived. So, Ranjith made a few quick calls to his office people. I saw that he was shouting and seemed to be upset. I was a little taken aback as I had never seen him lose his cool all this time. So, after he finished his call I asked him what was the matter. He said that there was some miscommunication about the time of his arrival and his office people had thought that we would be arriving at 11 PM and not at 11 AM.

I told Ranjith that it was alright and we could hire a luggage van to carry all our luggage. We had around ten big suitcases and three heavy bags with us. So, we hired few porters and asked them to carry the luggage to the taxi stand. At the taxi stand, Ranjith booked a luggage van and also a cab. He told me that he would be coming along with the luggage van as it would not be safe to leave all our luggage unattended.

He wrote down the address of the Air Force Officer Quarters and instructed the cab driver to drop me safely there. I was hesitant at first to travel alone. I hugged him and told him that I was not feeling comfortable traveling alone. He assured me that we were about to meet again in half an hour and there was no reason to worry. He said that the journey from the station to the Air Force Quarters was only about half an hour.

I took the cab and Ranjith boarded the luggage van. I felt silly to feel worried and waved him goodbye. My cab started and as Ranjith had told me, we reached the Officers Quarters within half an hour. On reaching the quarters, I was met by people from Ranjith's office. They had come to welcome me. They greeted me warmly and carried my luggage. They had already arranged for our stay and took me to our quarters. Ranjith's senior officer Wing Commander Mahesh Suri came over to our quarter and introduced himself. We chatted for some time and had tea. After a while, I started becoming anxious as Ranjith had still not arrived. It had been almost an hour since I had reached the Quarters and there was still no sign of him anywhere. I tried calling Ranjith but his phone was unreachable.

Mahesh noticed my anxiety and asked me what the matter was. I explained him everything. Mahesh asked me not to worry and said that probably the luggage van had got punctured. I was still not very convinced and started to worry. Seeing my state, Mahesh asked me to rest for some time and said that he would go out and make some inquiries regarding this matter. I closed the door and lay down on the bed. I closed my eyes but I was feeling very uneasy and restless. I sensed that something was not right. Suddenly, the doorbell rang and I ran to open the door hoping that Ranjith had returned at last. When I opened the door my happiness vanished into thin air. Mahesh was standing outside the door with two more officers. One of them was a tall and smart lady. The other one was a medium height gentleman of a fair complexion. The expression on the faces of these people was very serious. Seeing them, I judged that something terrible had happened.

Mahesh asked me to take a seat. The young lady officer by name Sunanda held my arm and gently guided me to the sofa seat. After I had sat, Mahesh told me that he was about to reveal some serious matter and that I should try to keep calm. I had already started crying and asked him what was the matter. He said that Ranjith had met with an accident on the way to the Quarters. He said that he had suffered several critical injuries and had been admitted to a nearby hospital.

I started weeping uncontrollably. Sunanda tried comforting me by patting my back. I asked Mahesh if Ranjith was in a critical state. He nodded in reply and said that he was being treated for serious injuries in the operation theater. I said that I wanted to go to the hospital. Mahesh and all the other officers got up and took me to the hospital in a car. During the car journey, Sunanda tried comforting me and said that everything would be alright. I was still in a state of trauma and was praying God to keep Ranjith safe.

 We reached the hospital in about fifteen minutes time. On reaching the hospital, we checked at the Reception for Ranjith. The receptionist guided us to the Operation Theater. When we reached the Operation Theater, we saw doctors operating on the patients inside. We were not allowed to go inside. I could not make out Ranjith's face from the small window of the door. I started crying once again. The officers started comforting me. Meanwhile, the doctor came outside and we checked with him about Ranjith's condition. The doctor said that the injuries were serious and he could not answer about his condition till the operation was over. After a couple of hours, the operation was over. The doctor came out of the door with a bent head and my heart skipped a beat.

He came to me and said sorry we could not save him. I started crying. I could not believe all that was happening. How could God be so cruel? We had been married only for a week now. How could God do this to me? I was shell-shocked and sat down and with my head in my arms started weeping. Suddenly, a familiar hand brushed my long hair gently and whispered my name, "Anjali Darling". I looked up to see Ranjith standing next to me smiling. I looked on in disbelief. I looked at the other officers and they were all smiling too. The officers loudly exclaimed,"Welcome, to the Air Force Family."  I was too shocked to react and stood bewildered. I jumped into Ranjith's arms and started crying. He caressed me affectionately and said that he was fine. In a short while, I realized that Ranjith and his officers had played a prank on me.

In the span of the next few months, I came to know that a prank is played on every spouse of a newlywed Air Force couple. Every husband/wife who joins the Air Force family has to be mentally strong owing to the nature of their spouse's work. They have to be prepared to bear any kind of ill news at any time. I was the subject of many such pranks in future also. Also, I participated in playing pranks on other people too. Over the course of many years, I realized the true importance of this prank. Many years later, when Mahesh passed away in an air accident, I could see that same sadness in his wife's eyes which I had experienced all those years back. But, she had become a tough woman and kept her own when she was conveyed the tough news. This made me realize the sacrifices of our armed forces and their families and I feel proud to be part of this great institution.

The End