A close encounter - 18th November 2015

A close encounter..
In these ephemeral pages of Facebook, I have recounted, relived and reminisced about many conversations and chance happenings over the last few years, but the one I am about to recount is perhaps unique, and I pray that I may never may the occasion to meet such a situation again. But then one never knows. The beauty and horror of life lies in its utter insecurity.
At around 8.00 Pm today, walking back home from my Swim, there is dark stretch of road I need to traverse (unfortunately no street lights worth the name there) that bends towards an intersection that leads to my Apartment. It has been rainy day in Atlanta. Incessant drizzling and water soaked roads everywhere. With an umbrella over my head, tired and quite exhausted after a good hard workout, I was lost in contemplation over a podcast I was listening to in the Sauna. All of sudden, I felt someone tap my back. Turning around, I stood facing three hulks, Black-Americans, blood shot eyes, reeking of alcohol and dressed in over fitting clothes. One of them growled"
"Get the fuck to the side quietly, and hand over your wallet and bag".
For a moment, my reaction was numbed. It happens when an unexpected event hits you right on the face. I could at the moment only exclaim " What.."
And before I could complete the sentence, the big guy on the right shoved me to a railing, and wrenched my headphones. There was sharp pain as his massive hand pulled the instrument from around my neck And it was then I noticed that all three had a revolver in their hands. Their short barrels glistening in the rain.
"You M**** F***, give us the F*** money, else we will blow your head off.." was all I heard.
I only had my Phone in my pocket and my swimming costume with me in my backpack. Nothing else. I don't carry anything else with me when I go the Gym. I realized very quickly that it was futile talking to them. I continued to look intensely at the one standing straight ahead and said " here take my phone, if you need it, and here is my bag. "
Clumsily, they rummaged through its contents. Disappointed, one of them roared and raised his gun right to my face. I could almost see the innards of the hollow barrel. The road was empty, not a vehicle in sight; and here I was standing with three misguided, inebriated, angry young men to whom a bullet shot would mean nothing at all. What does one do? For those brief intense moments, when life is held in such flimsy balance, one's true composure is tested. All that I remember crossing through my mind is : This is it, one dies without a whimper because of a bang. Strange thought to cross my head at such a juncture. I was reading TS Eliot yesterday night, where he writes:
"This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper"
And I guess, his words percolated my thinking in a twisted way.
"what the fuck are you waiting man. shoot the fucking guy..." a voice broke through waking me up from my stupefied silence. One of them was urging, egging the other to pull the trigger.
"Go ahead and shoot" - I declared ( foolishly in retrospect). I have nothing to give you. You have my phone and my bag. That's all I Have. ".
Slightly taken aback by my statement, they took a few steps back and repeated their threat to shoot me. But when a man has no options, and existential threat stares at ones face - the brain gives up. One could, of course, shout, cry, wail - these are options; but none of them will take away the fact that all it takes is a single bullet to stop that voice forever. I stood my ground without movement or a word.
As suddenly as they came, they turned and ran with my phone and head phones. The traffic signal down the road had turned green, and one could hear the faint noise of revving engines. They threw my back pack at me and scampered away.
It was then, I felt immense tiredness in my mind. The gravity of what just transpired shook me to my bones. My body involuntarily leaned against the railing, and my blood was intensely warm. It was by a hair's breadth, I had escaped from lunatics, who wouldn't have known that they pulled a trigger at someone. They wanted money and I didn't have it on me. Their ploy had failed. And When desperate men like them fail, it spirals into uncontrollable anger blinding every sense of decency, civility and human sympathy. And what was I thinking when I told them to shoot me. God only knows!!!
Cars whizzed past, rain fell and all was silent , black and gloomy again. No one would have guessed that just a few minutes ago, a life was held at gun point. I slowly ambled to Target, bought some groceries and reached home. T-Mobile took just few minutes to lock the phone completely; and here I am writing an account of it.
In retrospect, I guess I was plain lucky. Worst things have happened to people with better protection and precautions. In a world where Guns are being traded like candies, terrorists shooting indiscrimately in closed halls, racists killing students in campuses, underprivileged citizenry succumbing to drugs and guns to make a living - anything is possible. Well, to end this on a slightly lighter note; I know now what a gun look like from the other end, and God willing will never have to see it again.
God bless...
Yours in mortality,
Bala

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