My experiences with the God of Death

During my 40 years of stay in India and abroad, I almost met Death at close quarters on different occasions of life. How I escaped it all remains a mystery to me to this day.The memory of those those encounters have lived within me to tell the tale for sure:).
 First it was in 1966, during my flight from Ahmedabad to Delhi via Jaipur/Udaipur with my company secretary, who happened to be associated with the then Swathantra Party. Our flight was indeed smooth and very very comfortable. Being my first air travel, I really enjoyed it with a thrill that is always felt as a first time air traveller – that magic of flying like a bird is indescribable. . . At Jaipur my colleague had to meet the then Swatantra Party boss Rajmata Gayatri Devi. I waited in the car and after his meeting got over, he called me over and introduced me as his colleague and a staff member of the group company. That was the first time I saw a palace and it looked wonderful to me. When she appeared in front of me, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Dressed in a chiffon sari and her signature pearls, her immaculate presence with grace and beauty, made me feel as if I was in a dreamland. Although it was only for a few minutes, her presence gave a boost to my positive energy throughout . After this fleeting meeting, we went and completed our official work. He then dropped me to Jaipur airport.
The route of the flight was to Delhi and back to Ahmedabad via
Jaipur/Udaipur. Those days, the aircrafts used to be small. While coming from Delhi, the aircraft was caught in an air pocket the pilot tried his best to manoeuver it out of the crisis. In the process, we had to undergo heavy disturbances and shocks, going up /down. I prayed for the first time to all Gods to help me see my daughter and wife once again. The air hostesses and the staff were running from one end to another,
sweating and were not ready to respond to any of our queries. It was a devastating situation as the aircraft was floating on air. For about a few moments, it was a panic riden situation. The brilliant and well experienced pilot explained the seriousness later and informed us we wouldn’t touch Udaipur and the fllight would go straight to Ahmedabad. This was my first meeting withthe God of death.

************************************
 A very exceptional thing happened in 1986, during my visit to Mount Titles in the Alps in Switzerland- the most popular tourist destination in Europe. Mount Titles is about 3200 meters high. From Zurich, one has to take a train to Luzern and from there towards Engelberg. It is considered as one of the most beautiful scenic rides. From there to Mt.Titlis, we would take a cable car. It is a fabulous panoramic view ofthe evergreen trees and green fields.. Next station to the top was in a revolving gondola so we get a a 360* view.This one gave me one of the most beautiful views on earth. The feeling was similar to when we go above the clouds in a flight. At the first change of the gondola, people get down for skiing/ snow tubing /cliff walk on the beautiful glacier covered Titles.That was a fabulous view. Walking on the cliff over the Elevated Bridge was a marvelous experience. This location continues to be an attractive one many film shoots.The famous blockbuster film” Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayange of Kajol/Shahrukh was shot here. After this, we passedthe glacier cave (Ice tunnel) . There was an Indian family of husband/wife and two kids from Bombay with me in the gondola, which normally accommodates about 25 to 30 people. Being the only Indian and a Bombayite, I liked their company throughout. In the middle of the tunnel, there was a small window of about two feet in diameter.Those kids were enjoying the beautiful view and asked me “can we go out” . Without thinking clearly and rather impulsively, I tried to get out through the small window. I stepped out and then I slipped and half of my body slidoutside and I could find nothing to hold onto. I became very frightened and truly believed it was the end of my life.The children shouted at their parents, who were ahead of us. The kids tried their best to pull me in; but to no avail. However, they managed to hold me enough to prevent me from further going down. Fortunately, the parents rushed back and pulled me inside. While I was slipping down, I saw ice everywhere and to this day I can’t explain the fluttering feeling of the crisis I was in. Had I slipped further and the frail grip of the kids slipped even a wee bit, I wouldn’t have escaped and I gathered later there was there was no question or hope for survival. They told me I shouldn’t wear leather shoes whenwalking on ice. Only rubber shoes are recommended. As I did not have any instruction or experience on ice fields, I found it as a very useful tip to follow.

This was yet another life threatening and dangerous experience on the ice and inside the glacier cave with the Bombay family.
************************************
************************************

 My third was in Nairobi. I was working in a rubber factory a few
kilometres away from the city in one of the industrial townships. We had three factories, one after another in a row. Regularly, there used to be two securities, one by an outside agency and another by the company. On one occasion, the other Company Manager went on urgent leave and my MD asked me to go and spend a few hours in the other factory. That was the biggest
PP bags manufacturing company in Kenya, and one in which I had no
experience. However, as per the instructions, I accepted the challenge. After attending work in my factory, I decided to leave taking with me all the papers and
faxes received to that factory. For a change, I took the new Peugeot car, bought just the previous day . When I saw Alex- my driver, without any work and smoking cigarettes, I asked him to drive the car while I moved to the other seat in the front. As in India and London, Kenya too follows Right Hand Drive. On reaching the gate, we stopped the car for the security to open the first gate and I still remember how engrossed I was in reading the papers I had carried with me. Two unidentified persons came and spoke to my driver intheir local Swahili language, which I was not familiar with. In Nairobi,
usually everyone wore jackets. Suddenly I heard a noise. I turned around and found Alex profusely bleeding from his eyes and the eyeball which had popped out literally hanging down. I still recall that shocking scene of the person taking out the gun from his forehead and keeping it in his
jacket. He immediately pulled Alex out of the car. Second man came to my side and pulled me out too with his strong hands. All of this happened in a flash of seconds and I had no time to think about what was going on or where I was. I became blank. They may have had silencers so there was no
big noise produced except for some smoke. The people from a bus stop nearby started running away from the scene. For a moment his dead body and I were alone there. Those two people suddenly jumped into our car and ran away. The watchman saw some smoke emitted from the
shooting and rushed towards us After spotting me outside, the company security shouted “this is
our Menon sir”. Because of the new car, they just couldn’t identify me. After hearing this, the workers and staff came out and took me inside. There was a loaded truck waiting to go out for delivery and Iinstructed them to chase the car and get it. We arranged for Alex’s body to be taken to the
hospital and do the necessary steps. Immediately the news flashed everywhere. By overhearing about the incident, somebody informed home that I was shot dead. My wife got a shock and called the Chairman and informed him of the incident. I then called her and said that Alex was shot and not me. I was informed later that it was a very rare and unusual incident that an Asian was spared and an African killed. No one understood why they killed Alex … was it for money or
was it for the new car., Alex probably refused to hand over the car and they shot him or because of some personal rivalry. The third reason presumably was that it was February 28 th when this happened; and maybe they were tipped that my Financial
Controller had visited the bank to take cash for salary. They might have thought that I may be that person bringing cash in which case I would imagine they would have shot me or searched me. the reasons continue to remain obtuse to me.
This is the third incident how my God saved me from Death’s cruel hand.

 Another serious accident in Kenya, which miraculously saved my life, was on September 25 th 1986. I was returning to the factory after lunch and my car failed to stop on a railway flyover. After entering the same, I noticed a traffic jam at the next roundabout (junction). As usual, I applied the brakes but this time I found it not working. I became panicky and I could see crawling lunch time
traffic. I still didn’t know how I managed to come to the middle / first line and subsequently to the pavement and rolled down through a gap of about 10 feet railings (which had disappeared thanks to an earlier accident) to roughly 20 -25 feet. Fortunately the bed was covered by grass and the car rolled four times before landing on its four wheels. The workers from the railway workshop weresurprised to see such a live stunt and rushed to help. The car was fully damaged and I was trapped inside. The front and right side had concrete rainwater channels. It was a good thing that the car didn’t fall in that which could have been more dangerous The tall Kenyans jumped over shouting “take the body out” in their local language. I was in my full senses and cried back. “Please open and I can come out.” A relieved person lifted me out and I screamed as I was in
excruciating pain with my broken collar bone. The Editor of our group’s Newspaper identified my car number and called my office about this serious accident and informed them after seeing the condition of the car, that he suspected the passenger wouldn’t be alive. Suddenly I found myself at Nairobi hospital and except for some bruises and a broken collar bone, all other faculties were miraculously fine. Here again I saw the hand of God as I was saved yet another time from encountering Death in the nick of Time.

So while Death is certain for all born, but when it attempts to interrupt life at various intervals, one values Life even more.Probably why I count my Life as a blessing and live in the Present.