Too little... too late

An old friend of mine shared her brother's photos from last year The tone of the post was too nostalgic to ignore as just another. I hadn't read any update from him so I checked his profile and to my shock, I read that he had passed away in November last year. He was so young -just twenty four.

Deepak was not just my friend Divya's brother, but my friend too. And he was a smart young man who didn't deserve to die so young. I read in news reports that he died of severe head injuries sustained in a bike crash (while speeding over a speed breaker - according to times of India.) It's not the first time I've lost a friend to a bike accident. A classmate of mine - Girish, died after riding home drunk on his motorbike without a helmet on his head. His parents, his steady girlfriend and his devoted friends were all shocked and devastated. And all that just a few months before we graduated. He might have been pure at heart and a good person, but when it mattered, he acted irresponsibly. Whats the use of all that goodwill in the end? I used to feel angry, but I don't feel much anymore. Most of his friends were in denial about drunk driving. I blame them as much as I blame him. 

I don't know much about the circumstances in which Deepak died, but I would prefer to be ignorent. I prefer to be in denial about what happened, and blame it all on the lack of common knowledge of CPR which might have saved his life in such a circumstance. It's all a game of ifs and buts. I have been trained to administer CPR in case of emergencies. I pray often that I shouldn't have to be in a situation where I have to give or receive CPR. Yet, every day I read about accidents happening on streets, highways and lakes and streams. So many of them are avoidable. Yet we lose precious life everyday.

I wanted to write to Divya, but it feels too little, and a bit too late for that. I wish I would have known before. I have a lot of excuses, but I wonder if I could have been more proactive and kept in touch with the two of them more than just through facebook? Would I have come to know of this accident earlier otherwise? Is it ok to justify not keeping in touch saying the others don't either? Now only those faint memories of Deepak remain from ten years ago.

A cruel coincidence - As I unravelled the story of Deepak's death, the song playing in the background was 'Car crash'

Is the universe trying to give me hints as usual?