© 2010 Pinaki pinaki-blog-8135

October 2007

That last part, when you know you’re beyond ever stopping, happens in slow motion: the camel runs out from the trees and across the mountain road to Yemen that was empty seconds ago, and you stare in morbid fascination as he is followed by another, and another, and the LandCruiser slides into all of them. And the camels keep on coming and blot out everything else.

And then the first camel ploughed into me, deep into the side of the car, so hard the metal crumpled, and his legs buckled, and that massive, mid-level mass crashed down on the hood, breaking the fan underneath, sliding up, into the windshield till it turned black, through the windshield, and I choked on glass and camel hair and came to a halt, thinking we’d all died.

www.pinaki.info | because the best stories are our own

That last part, when you know you’re beyond ever stopping, happens in slow motion: the camel runs out from the trees and across the mountain road to Yemen that was empty seconds ago, and you stare in morbid fascination as he is followed by another, and another, and the LandCruiser slides into all of them. And the camels keep on coming and blot out everything else.
And then the first camel ploughed into us, deep into the side of the car, so hard the metal crumpled, and his legs buckled, and that massive, mid-level mass crashed down on the hood, breaking the fan underneath, sliding into us, into the windshield till it turned black, through the windshield, and we choked on glass and camel hair and came to a halt, thinking we’d died.

8 Comments

  1. Karma
    Posted February 8, 2010 at 12:15 pm | #

    huh?

  2. Nancy
    Posted February 8, 2010 at 1:01 pm | #

    Aaaaargh! I told you to drive safely!!!

  3. Aisha
    Posted February 15, 2010 at 10:57 pm | #

    So those indentations on the bonnet and the sides are from camel limbs? Huge! Thanks God you are fine. Shame camel died. Who took that picture? I can’t imagine how anyone could take a picture straight after that, unless he was born with a camera around his neck, a photo- journalist, or has stamina. Have your pick.

  4. Posted February 15, 2010 at 11:02 pm | #

    I shot that but am pretty ashamed because I didn’t really do it professionally. Hmm.. give me a little while with all these options…

  5. Aisha
    Posted February 15, 2010 at 11:34 pm | #

    I have just noticed! This is one evidence that u have bad luck with cars! Probably not something you want recorded on your blog :P . It is a real story though…kind of.

  6. nigel
    Posted February 17, 2010 at 7:50 am | #

    amazingly the camel didn’t die, aisha, but it was pretty upset about the whole episode. Nigel

  7. Brinda
    Posted March 5, 2010 at 11:13 pm | #

    I was just looking at the photo for a minute, trying to imagine what must have happened to the car..was thinking of boulders/landslide.. and then read the write-up — camels!!

  8. Posted April 15, 2010 at 11:55 am | #

    The best stories indeed are our own…..

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