Death has a countless ways of claiming its target........
It was such as freak accident killed one of our classmate, while we least anticipated it..
We were in our Masters program in Life Sciences, in Sambalpur University..
The entire class were bound for Chilika lagoon, for a field study on marine species...
Hotels were booked....everything was arranged for the 3-4 day stay..
On the morning of the scheduled departure day, in the dawn we congregated before the hostel gate...
The buses arrived.... we stuffed our luggage...and took seats....excited for the brief and much-needed respite from back-to-classes and exams..
The staffs were loading other equipment...some students were watching.........it was still dark......we were to go to the nearby railway station......than catch the train..
It did not work that way.......
Among other stuffs being loaded, there were several bottles of formalin (the diluted formaldehyde)...a chemical used as preservative for dead animals...an essential component for biomedical laboratories..
Call it folly on our part, but one the container with the deadly chemical was a soda bottle....A danger sigh was pasted on it, so as not to confuse anybody..........
In the darkness or excitement....a boy mistook it for water.....and drank it.
The unthinkable happened......next moment he collapsed and died.
He was rushed to the nearby hospital.........he had died within minutes of consumption.......
Our trip was cancelled...we ran to the hospital..
It was a grim situation.......
A fraction moment of negligence can wipe you out........dreams can die...a human resource can be lost..
Eternal vigilance is not only the price of freedom but survival also...
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