'Dragon' lost the race but hit the headlines- I.P.S. Service Meet 2020
Saturday - February 22, 2020 5:21 pm ,
Category : WTN SPECIAL
Authored by Dr. Anjuli Jain
"Dragon' lost balance, tilted and capsized. The rowers suddenly slipped and shallow-dived from one side, tumbled and dived deep from the other side into the deep waters.
20/02/2020 : Day 2 of IPS Service Meet 2020 . It was around 12:00 pm, a cruise and several boats set out to sail into the upper lake of Bhopal.
Two sculling boats embarked for the race; one named 'Dragon' and the other was not 'Dragon'. As they rowed towards the middle of the lake, the 'Dragon' lost balance, tilted and capsized. The rowers suddenly slipped and shallow-dived from one side, tumbled and dived deep from the other side into the deep waters.
The other boat was ahead, rowing fast. When in excitement they turned back to see how distant was 'Dragon', they were aghast! Only the heads popping in and out of water or the orange colour of the life-saving jackets could be seen.The boat had capsized, people on the boat had fallen in deep waters. Plunging into panic would not have helped, it had to be professionally dealt. In almost a minute or two, the rescue team-boat reached the spot.
Dive and drown is not as easy as it sounds. It is a lifetime shocking and traumatic experience. All the senses cease to function. Victims get into a comatose state for a while. Climbing on to the rescue boat is not a simple get- over; the drowned have to be pushed and then pulled out of water and shock both. Thank God, there was no mishap, all were saved. The arrangements were perfect! No rules were flouted. There were only ten people on the boat , all wearing life saving jackets.
The news spread on shore, a little later the victims too arrived on the shore. On the shore we shared with them, their drenched and drowned moments. Ms. Tuhin Singh who had very reluctantly boarded the boat met with a mighty fall, so much so that she touched the bed of the lake and lost her new pair of spectacles with the progressive lenses. She had almost skipped her heart- beat.
Priya said that she chilled out in the not so chilled water. She was neither nervous nor disturbed, only her make-up got a little disturbed, her sunglasses remained intact, her shoes soaked a lot of water. Back with her kit and phone she did a touch-up. Her cell phone too was safe as she did not carry it on boat. Sunita and Rajesh were not so lucky, their mobile-phones met with ' Jal- samadhi', got immersed in water. With no backup, the couple was quite sad and cut off from all contacts. Gone are the days when the phone numbers were on the tip of the tongues!
The accident was scary and sensational. Immediately media and microphones flocked to cover the first hand reactions, first from the first lady of the Madhya Pradesh police, Ms. Tuhin Singh. Before she could actually come back to the present moment she was caught in a 'How was it moment?'
The 'bits and bytes' session came to an end as we moved and climbed to 'Winds and Waves' restaurant for lunch. We laughed out the serious incident and enjoyed it. Each imaginative re- creation of the scene with some impositions and super-impositions added an element of fantasy.
As our eyes rolled out of the windows, 'Winds and Waves' treated us with the beautiful view of the lake; we thanked our stars, we thanked God for being with us in our narrow and dramatic escape. Though it was a life-time traumatic experience and could have scarred the IPS meet forever but fortunately, God was with us and had turned it into an adventure! Though ' Dragon' had lost the race but hit the headlines!
-Window To News
