It happened in 2011. I was around 16 years old then. It was one fine evening when my mom came to pick me up from my IIT-JEE coaching class on her Honda Activa and we were heading back home. We were travelling on a road rather not so wide but newly tarred then and enough width for 2 small trucks to easily pass through. The road had some trees on the sides leaning onto the road, specifically cocunut trees (you can find them in abundance in Kerala).

I must have been casually blabbing about my day at the coaching center and my mom was driving the Activa at around 40 km/hr, when suddenly something heavy fell on my her left shoulder. She went unconscious within a fraction of a second. Trust me, this happened so fast that you just go numb with no clue what happened or what to do next. She immediately leaned forward unconsciously on to the speedometer of the Activa. It maybe just 10 or 15 seconds but I was at the back of a driverless two-wheeler speeding at 40 km/hr. I was dumbstruck and scared by this point, but somehow my reflex system managed to put my hands on the handle of the Activa from the back seat with my mom unconscious in front. Even though I got hold of the handles, I was unable to get complete balance of the vehicle then but I managed to apply the brakes. Thank god I had cycle balance. The Activa slowed down and crossed to the right side of the road, luckily without hitting any other vehicle which came from the opposite direction. There was an open water drainage system to the left of the road, so had the Activa turned left we would have crashed into the drainage and severly injured ourselves. After travelling within 100 meters Activa slowed down significantly and we hit the wall on the right side of the road and both of us fell down to the left at the side of the road. All this happened so fast within 10-15 seconds. My mother was still unconscious. By the time I called up an Autoriksha which went near by. She regained bit of consciousness by then and we headed towards the nearest hospital. I called my dad immediately on the way to the hospital and told him to meet us at the hospital. She was taken to surgery as she had broken her left shoulders. They had to insert a metal strip to join and fix her bones. The Surgery went on fine and she was discharged in a week time.

Wondering what was that thing which fell on my mothers shoulders? It was a Coconut from a tree which was leaning towards the road. I had a series of thoughts and emotions that crossed my mind during those few seconds, nevertheless somehow both of us were safe and that's all that matters. This was the most unforgettable and the longest 15 seconds of my life.