An Accident saved my Life

I was well asleep when Prajakt wakes me up asking if I want to come for tea.

I said “Why not…it’s my dream come true!!!” (I can’t hide sarcasm at such times.) I moved to his flat 2 days ago on his suggestion, so that we could discuss more on film making.This late night tea was regular for him but new for me, which I never refused as I like tea & he shares more when he is on road, for rest of time he is super busy in other stuffs which I am yet to discover.

“You walk like a normal man, I mean this accident doesn’t seem to make you handicap”, I said getting on front seat of his car.

“Yeah…but that accident saved my life”, he replied with mysterious smile.

“You need to sleep often, b'coz you are blabbing today”, I said with no intention to laugh on him. But he laughed, or to be precise cackled like baby.

“I said so because for me that accident changes so many things in my life that I can simply divide my life as before accident & after accident”, he said.

He adds “my Dad easily agreed on investing in my story & has supported my idea of making film with friends and all newcomers. Soon I moved to Nagpur in my new flat with nothing but my dream to make a movie. I kept expenses to minimum. My film budget was three lacs fifty thousand. Fifty thousand was my production cost & three lacs for my friend from Mumbai who was Associate Director. I didn’t buy anything like bed or sofa for my comfort.”

“What?? Not even bed?? That’s nonsense”, I said showing my disagreement.

“Actually I had very clear thoughts in my mind to keep expenses low” Pj clarified. “I wrote story with real incidences and characters with whatever things I had at my disposal. I have planned it then that this flat and our office will be used.”

“Hmmm..hmmm..” I didn’t know how to stop him.

“I spent my entire pocket money on education, internet cafes, buying books for all friends. I knew it then that this baby steps will be proved as milestones. I can skip lunch or dinner but I couldn’t skip my happy hours at nearby internet café because I wasn’t hungry for food but for knowledge, education & information that will keep me ahead of all”, he said stopping at tea stall. I was so engrossed in his story that I didn’t realize we did 20 mins journey which we spent listening to songs.

“Is he making story???” thought entered my mind as I order two teas.

“I am not fooling you, you can ask anyone who was there at those times with me”, he said taking his glass from me.

“What the f***, how did he know”, I was shocked.

“I would like to share something that I kept to myself and I hope you will like it too”, he said. “Plan, Execute, Fail & Repeat till last two steps don’t happen. I stick to these steps even now. These keep pushing me towards my goal. I was busy writing my story, songs, collecting incidences, reading voraciously about filmmaking, educating my friends, learning new stuffs. Then one fateful day I met accident that changed everything. I went to celebrate my small achievement of completing story but never returned as I was. I returned with inexplicable changes.”

“It must have wasted your time?” I asked.

“On the contrary it saved my life as I said earlier. I didn’t tell you yet that I was writing a story for a girl, it was my effort to impress her but after my accident she refused to even meet once that really pissed me off. I had two options either to cry or to collect my energies & focus on my aim. I chose later one. That was the time when I decide to do it brutally, ruthlessly & cruelly. I add this accident in my script and changed most part of script along with climax,” he told.

“But unfortunately my Dad had different plan. He opened an office for me, so this small budget movie got 10 times more investment even before it started. Now I have run a full fledge production house 20-30 guys. At the same time few of my friends left saying they have other priorities. But I was too determined to get budge by this. I started taking workshops, seminar, and classes to boost confidence in my staff. Bought cameras, made equipments by our own hands”, he said, I could see the spark in his eyes. He couldn’t stop and I didn’t want him to even pause.

“I got an instinct feeling that this is just the beginning, I have long way to go. This is how a kid with broken leg started his journey,” he finished, both his line & tea.

“Life is so unpredictable, but the way you bounce back was inspiring. You could have easily misled or quit long time ago but you didn’t”, I couldn’t stop saying those words.

“You lost your sarcasm this time”, he smiled at me.

“Saved it for next time”, I replied getting back on my seat.

We drove back to our flat. I was thinking about everything he just told me. It was amazing to be surrounded by crazy guys, crazy enough to think differently and live weirdly.