A heart-stopping moment on a hill

It snowed like God (or some other Higher Being, for those who feel this might be blasphemous) had an insane case of dandruff-induced itchy scalp.

Our new mayor claimed that the snow shovelers and salt trucks were working around the clock, but neither I nor anybody else I know could see the evidence for this. Certainly one of the major roads in the city, Beechwood Boulevard, supposedly a "Snow Emergency Route", had a thick covering of snow, it was also slippery and icy and every car ahead of us was trying not to skid and crash. God forbid you got stuck behind a school bus on a hill: it would be almost impossible to get the car running straight again.

We crawled our way to work and back. We live on a little hill with very steep inclines on both directions. It's not fun to either drive or walk up it. But I don't think any of us had considered how dangerous it could be with snow and ice piled on it.

Ram revved the car and drove up, only to get stuck in the middle of the hill. The wheels turned uselessly, snow splattered everywhere, but we weren't going anywhere. Ram braked, put the car in 'park' and got out to see how bad the situation was. I stepped out too with Durga in my arms. I started telling Ram that I would walk the short distance back home to pick up some shovels when slowly, inexorably the car started sliding backwards with Ani still in it.

Several things happened simultaneously: Ram hollered, "Varsh, move out of the way!", I yelled, "Ani, hold on. You'll be fine. We'll get you!" and Durga cried. As he realized what was going on, Ani whimpered, a soft sound that clutched my heart and set it pounding.

The car door that I had hopped out from earlier was still open, I was still standing right by it, between the door and the car interior and was moving backwards with the car as it continued its silent and alarming descent. My brain had shut down, I could only think of Ani and getting him out, not realizing that were I to slip or lose my grip in the snow, Durga and I would be in danger. Ram was yelling something, his eyes wide, his mouth moving but I couldn't understand the words coming out of it.

Then suddenly, miraculously, the car stopped moving of its own accord. It ground to a halt near a small pile of snow. "Get Ani! Get Ani!" I gasped, staggering back. Ram was already inside, frantically unstrapping Ani from his car seat. By this time, we had help. A couple of neighbors had peered out to see what the ruckus was and had rushed out with shovels. I grabbed Ani's hand in my sweaty one. Ani was remarkably cheerful about his whole adventure.

"Come on, babies. I'll take you home", I told Ani and Durga. Our kind neighbors and Ram sorted out the issue of the stuck car while I plied Durga with milk and let Ani watch all the TV he wanted, much to his utter delight.

And I prayed and prayed and thanked the great God for my kids and my husband.