My dear Uncle

This article is a tribute to my uncle who has transformed my way of looking at life. His name is Nuthalapati Srinivas and we call him "Srinivas Uncle".

Uncle has been a part of our family since our childhood. My father works for Heavy Water Plant and shifted from Kota in Rajasthan to Manuguru in AP in 1986. I was 3 years old then.Srinivas Uncle used to work in the gas agency at that time. Sometime after we shifted to the colony we got a big bungalow which had an out house. Srinivas Uncle shifted into that room. Slowly he became close to us. He was epecially very close to me.

He used to drop me at school, pick me up after school, take me out and buy me chocolates and goodies and pamper me. My dad and mom say that srinivas uncle pampered me more than they did. Every morning I and my sister would go to uncle's room and wake him up. He was a very lazy person and would not wake up. We would then have breakfast together. We all loved the dosas my mom made. We all still marvell at the amazing speed at which she prepared dosas for us. Later Uncle moved out of our house when he got a job in the chemical lab in Heavy Water Plant and was alloted quarters in the colony. Uncle got married to Rekha Aunty. Our relationship with Uncle did not change even after he got married. I have always taken uncle for granted in the sense that I knw that Uncle will be there for me whenever I need him.

Recently i.e about two years back, something happened that affected all of us badly. Srinivas Uncle met with an accident. The incident is painful for me to recall but I want to recall it to admire the brave and courageous person that Srinivas Uncle is. Srinivas Uncle had taken a contract of laying roads somewhere near aswapuram. He was returning from the site sometime during midnight. He was driving to the left side of the road within speed limits. Suddenly a truck hit him from the front and the he took the blow in his face. The impact of the blow threw him a few feet away. His motorcycle went under the truck and was crushed to pulp. Uncle says his mouth was somewhere on his cheek after the blow. His jaw and nose had broken to pieces. He was not aware of the extent of damage that had happened to his face as he was under shock. He was lying on the side of the road and he felt that he was dying. He was unable to breathe as his nose was broken. Uncle says people were looking at him and saying that "this guy is going to die". No one even tried to help him it seems. He says he thought of his daughter and waited for death. However after two minutes he still felt conscious. He then thought that there still might be a chance for him to survive and decided that he would not give up without a fight. He got up and walked onto the road. People looked at him and got scared it seems. Uncle says no one tried to help him. He forcibly stopped a motorcycle and sat on it asking the driver to take him to our residential colony. Uncle says that the guy begged uncle to get off his bike. Uncle got off and then had no strength left to fight for his life. He laid down on the road motioning for vehicles to stop. After about 20 minutes an auto stopped and uncle got into it promising the driver whatever he wanted in return. When uncle got to our hospital the doctor retrieved a bottle of blood from his nose and mouth. Uncle's jaw was completely shattered and he lost his left eye. He was shifted to the Kamineni hospital in Hyderabad. I went to see him and was shocked to see him. He was unable to talk and was writing down what he wanted to convey to us. I went with my mom and sister. Uncle was lying on the bed and tears started streaming down his eyes when he saw us. I can never forget the fear that I felt that day. I was happy that uncle was safe and alive. However we were all afraid for Uncle and Aunty thinking of the struggle they would have to go through after the accident. The way Uncle bounced back is admirable. He recovered soon and got a lot of treatments done. He fought courageously and got back to work within 6 months. Whenever I see uncle now I think of the way he fought for his life that night. After my marriage when I was leaving for Vamsi's house I cried. My mom and dad were crying too. Almost as I was about to leave I looked at Uncle and saw that he was crying too. I thought of all that he had done for me and for himself and felt a surge of love for my dear uncle.

I have always been a great follower of "THE READER'S DIGEST". The magazine publishes articles talking about survivors of accidents and the way they bravely face life. I used to read those articles and think of those people as heroes. My uncle is no less than a hero to me. The way he has faced the odds is commendable and I love him and am proud of him for that.I wish to tell him through this article that I respect him and admire him as a person.