It was the year 1991.
At 10 pm on a foggy night, Lucknow-based Pramod Tiwari was travelling home from work when a speeding vehicle rammed into him and drove away.
When Pramod did not return home until late, his family panicked and reached out to his childhood friend, Manoj Singh.
Paying no attention to the time, the young man ventured into the night in search of his childhood friend.
He was shocked by the sight of Pramod. His childhood friend bled to death by the road in front of his eyes.
Speaking to Hindi daily Navbharat Times, Manoj explained how his friend had been lying unattended for about two hours. The post-mortem report revealed that Pramod died due to excess blood loss.
“If someone had rushed him to the hospital, he would have a second chance at life.”
He had opened his eyes twice, but couldn’t say anything. His death shook Manoj to the core.
And while the young man could hardly do anything to save his childhood friend, he embarked on a mission that moved on to save the lives of numerous accident victims.
In the last 27 years, the man has saved over 60 accident victims by rushing them to the hospital in time and providing any required help.
He shares that some of these individuals have met and thanked him after their recovery. “I see Pramod’s face in every person I help. My biggest regret is I couldn’t save him. So I am trying to alleviate that emotional baggage and reduce the pain of losing him by saving others.”
Manoj, a resident of Arjunganj, Lucknow is a teacher who runs coaching classes in Indiranagar. He doesn’t stop at being a messiah to people in need. Instead, he encourages his students to help others. The impact of his selfless efforts reflects in the fact that many of his students have joined him in his campaign.
At a time, when people crowd at an accident spot, take videos or sometimes just walk away to avoid getting into legal processes, unsung heroes like Manoj reinstate our faith in humanity. We hope that this teacher’s efforts are recognized and that his story inspires many more not to turn their backs but extend a helping hand to the victims of road accidents.
This post is part of the We Are the World Blogfest, a monthly blogging event created by Damyanti Biswas and Belinda Witzenhausen to showcase stories of hope and light. This month I’m helping out as a co-host, along with extraordinary bloggers : Eric Lahti , Inderpreet Uppal, Peter Nena, Damyanti Biswas—please hop over to check out their WATWB posts as well as from other WATWB participants for a dose of feel-good to last you a whole month. You’ll be happy you did!
Click HERE to check out the intention and rules of the blogfest and feel free to sign up at any time. You are always welcome!
13 Responses
Amazing how it takes an event like seeing his friend die for a person to reach out to ensure as much as possible that this doesn’t happen again. Manoj Singh is a true hero – also for continuing his work as coach and that others join him in his campaign. Such a wonderful story Shilpa thank you – and for hosting 🙂
Rather than rail against justice or God or humanity, he did something with his pain and that is awesome. Thanks for this post. :0)
Wonderful story. Heartwarming and inspiring
Road accidents are real killers. And most people do die only because of untimely help. I myself saw my mother come under a car and she only survived because we took her to the hospital immediately.
Similarly, in a recent road accident where the driver crashed into a pole because of a heart attack, a gynaecologist who was driving by stopped and gave him First Aid and drove him to the hospital. The Golden Hour is indeed the golden hour that makes the difference between life and death.
This is Sad ! And its a bitter truth of our society that Road Accidents are the real killers around us!
Monoj is really doing an amazing work. Nobody will dare to take any risks during accidents. But Monaj’s courage makes him do this kindness act. Truly he’s an unsung hero. thanks for sharing this, Shilpa!
Its challenging to drive on our roads and there are so many accidents every year and Manoj needs to be appreciated for his initiative, its so sad and inspiring to read shilpa that he couldn’t save his childhood friend, but took up as a mission to be helpful and make a difference, thanks for sharing.
Loved the thought . Instead of brushing aside the incident and getting on with life, he has done something that will stay on for years. ANd 60 lives is surely an awesome number and a whole lot of good karma.
I don’t know how should I give you thanks! I am totally stunned by your article. You saved my time. Thanks a million for sharing this article.
What an inspiration, Shilpa. With all the paperwork and cross questioning by the police, people tend not to get involved. May Manoj’s tribe increase.
Hey shilpa!!
what a great real-life hero your shared…. many of us face situations like this but only a few people like manoj have the taken a inspiration from the incidents insteed of being in a state of depression… I salute manoj for his efforts and request everyone … …. be like manoj we need more humanity on our parts
The death of his friend was sure disheartening, Even still we can see something good came out of it as Manoj saved more lives. If everyone can follow his lead, the world would be a better place. Thanks for this article.
And sixty lifetimes is certainly an impressive number that embodies a great deal of positive karma.