Last summer we went on a road trip to Shimla. We were four friends heading there for a short vacation on a long weekend. Earlier when we used to plan such road trips, we ultimately ended up cancelling our plans due to either time constraints, money issues or because we did not get permission. But now that we were all working, we knew we had to get away for a bit, together. So, we started off. The boys were sitting in front and decided to take turns to drive. They had driven a lot of times earlier, so Neha and I were confident to let them be on the wheel. We started early in the morning and wanted to complete the road journey before it got dark. The entire journey was going great… We had great music playing, nostalgic and emotional conversations, lots of food and a couple of drinks too – just Neha and me.
Of course, our adrenalin was high and we were way too excited considering this was our first trip together and the start to a lot of fun! Reminiscing old times, recording these memories and teasing each other, we passed a few hours. After a while, we started snapchatting and started checking in… Just to update the world and our other friends what they were missing out on.
After we reached the hills, the picturesque view got us clicking photos, recording videos and more. Rakshit, who was sitting in the front seat decided to take a selfie. First, it was just the three of us, besides Saket who was driving. But after a few funny Snapchat selfies, Saket decided to pop his head into the frame while driving.
In the three seconds that we were posing, pouting and making funny faces for our selfie, a bike came zooming from the other side and was going to collide with our car…
To save us all from this mishap, Saket turned the car around to save us and it hit a rock on the side of a narrow hairpin bend. Thank God, we were on the side of the hill, otherwise, the speed at which we were travelling, we would have been on the edge of the cliff or even off it. Nothing happened to us, except that we were in shock. We got off the car and went ahead to see if the car was alright. When we got back into the car… That’s when it actually hit us.
We had a narrow escape and I couldn’t just sit there and be grateful that we were on the opposite side of the road. Taking selfies is certainly fun, but it’s extremely important to know the time and place to click one. Those three tiny seconds could have cost us our lives and that would have definitely been one dangerous selfie. Being 100% alert on the road is important because sometimes, it may not be us, but the people on the road who tend to be careless. This definitely taught me that not everything needs to be captured in a photograph, just enjoying it in reality may actually be a better idea.
*Names changed to protect privacy
Images: Shutterstock
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