Soliloquy of a Juneberry

Treasure every moment

I thought my first post after my Bintan trip was to .. well .. talk about Bintan.

Instead, I would like to talk about what I saw on my way to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.

On bus 35, while travelling along Changi Coastal road, Jings and I saw 2 badly crushed cars. As the bus passed by the wreckages, we saw.. to our horror.. the body of one of the drivers lying on a grass patch beside the road and a bloodied steering wheel in one of the cars. The body was covered with black trash bag.. though we could still see the side of the body.

I remembered saying to Jingjun that I couldn't believe a life was snuffed out just like that.
You know.. driving along a road --> a moment of inconcentration --> car accident --> that's it.

I remembered thinking to myself .. who is that person?
Does he have something he wanted to accomplish but have not gotten around to doing yet?
since he is a man, what would happen to his family? ... his death is so sudden.. if i were to be one of his family members.. i don't think i could accept it.. a healthy man gone just like that. What if he had been somewhere else? left for his destination a minute earlier/later.. the accident wouldn't have happened and he would still be alive.


Well, today I had my questions answered. He is the former national boxer Doraisamy Rabit Chandra. He was making 2 trips from Tuas to send workers home. I shall not go into details here (you can read abt it in today's TNP Pg 62).
What really affected me was the statement that his wife made

".. his wife, who last spoke to him... and told him to (go) home and rest..
could only say 'if only he had listened to me...'"

Indeed, there can a lot of "what Ifs"... but sometimes I guess when a thing is to happen, you can't prevent it from happening... so if Mrs Chandra is blaming herself for not insisting on his going home earlier to rest.. she shouldn't be so hard on herself... because I believe that without the benefit of hindsight, the same decisions would still be made. She should be proud that her husband placed the welfare of the workers above his own.

My condolences to Mrs Chandra

A minute of silence please...

posted by juneberry @ Sunday, June 12, 2005