Planned accident?

I heard a mild thud and a woman cry, "Ayyo!" In no time a motley crowd gathered.

The traffic was chaotic even at that afternoon hour. I was barely settling down in the rear seat of the cab when I heard a mild thud and a woman cry, “Ayyo!” Our vehicle stopped and the driver got down. We were so close to a stationary bus, I could not have got down even if I wanted to. In no time a motley crowd gathered around. Someone was helping the fallen form get up and another urged the driver to take the woman, who already had her hand in cast, to a doctor.

One opinion after another was aired about speeding drivers, careless pedestrians, thoughtless location of bus stops etc. I gathered that the woman had decided to get off the bus at the last moment. Our cab driver, not anticipating this, had been unable to prevent his vehicle from grazing her resulting in her fall. Thankfully there was not much damage.

A police man soon appeared and asked the crowd to disperse. The woman’s hand bag and chappals were hastily thrown inside the cab. I then got a good look at the seated form in the front. She was in her sixties, frail and shabby. Her wailing now picked up momentum. “Aandavane, I am sure my leg is fractured too. I was just getting back from the hospital after a check-up of my hand and now this. Ayyayo! it hurts...”

“Why do you travel alone when you already have a fractured hand?” the driver asked. “Who will come with me? Everybody has jobs. My daughter will now berate me for the additional expenses,” the woman went on. I noticed that she didn't call anyone from her mobile phone. There were bruises on her feet but no swelling. Despite the ruckus she was creating, the woman didn’t appear to be in great pain. I tried to soothe her even as my mind raced thinking of all the consequences.

We had reached the hospital by then and our driver tried to walk her inside. “I can’t walk,” said the drama queen. A wheel chair was duly procured and she was wheeled in. I stood waiting outside but only briefly. The driver reappeared and quickly whisked me away from the hospital.

“You must be thinking that I left a helpless old lady and came away,” the driver broke the silence. “This is all planned, to extract money. If I had lingered there, she would have talked of police case and made me cough up thousands of rupees. It has happened to me once before and to a few of my friends too,” he said.

The driver was probably right but I am yet to digest that a poor woman can risk her life and limb for money.