My Condolence and Reflections on the Train Accident involving NLU students

I didn't think I shall be writing about this, but I realise many of us have completely missed something we should not have. I thought it is not in our best interest to remain in oblivion.

Something really tragic happened a couple of days back (13th November). A train full of NLU Jodhpur students, some of them my friends, were going back to home to Delhi to spend holidays in Mandor express. Most of them were in the airconditioned compartments, which along with some other compartments were derailed and in some cases even overturned. Several deaths were reported. Amongst the dead was one NLU student, Sonal Singh. Some other students suffered minor injuries. I can imagine what a traumatic experience it was for others in the train.

I myself have been in situations where I could have instantly died. Several times at different places my life was saved by a whisker in incidents ranging from road accidents, armed assault on my life by criminals to rock climbing mishaps. Never once during those incidents the possibility of death really bothered me. There was always a way in which life triumphed over the shadow of death. I felt shocked but happy. This time though I was nowhere near the spot where the tragedy took place, nor had I heard about the incident till a few days later, somehow the news of this death of a law schoolite on her way to Delhi is making me feel emotions I never felt before.

The news made me extremely sad. There is no doubt that railway should be made safer, as accidents like these are in most cases avoidable. Beyond that, I am compelled to reflect how we take life for granted.

We always tend to be optimistic that things will be alright, and that we can postpone the things we must do till a later date. The news made me feel humble, and reminded me that there are things that I must do while I am alive, as otherwise I will not be able to call my life complete. It also strengthened my resolve to live life more intensely, and to try hard to make it worth living for others, including those I love.

I would also make it a point to show my affection to the people I love and care for, no postponing, no being shy anymore. When the final moment comes, whenever it does, I should not feel that there remained something very important that I should have finished earlier, a word of care that I should have said or an emotion I wanted to feel, but did not only because I was lazy, timid or shy.

May Sonal rest in peace, and her near and dear ones find solace.

[PS: A friend of mine has written a beautiful but sad poem, here is the link]