Swapnil Tawde and his family were in a car that fell into a valley. Tawde recounts the harrowing experience to Sunday MiD DAY
 20 year old Swapnil Tawde, along with seven relatives, was behind the wheels of a six-month-old Maruti Omni car (MH-02-NA-7622) that crashed into a gorge. Miraculously, all survived. A week after the incident, Tawde relives the horror and the relief.
Tawde and his family were going to his hometown in Guhagar village in Ratnagiri, 300 kilometres from Mumbai. They were going there for Ganesh festivities.
Tawde had just started driving and was unfamiliar with driving on the Ghats. But since their regular driver was away, he drove. And this, in spite of both his eyes being affected by conjunctivitis.
That morning, Tawde started from their Sion-Chunabhatti residence at 8.30 am. The previous night he took tips from a family friend on safe driving. Tawdes father Mohan (48), a clerk employed with Agriculture Produce Marketing Corporation (APMC), was sitting beside him. Mohan himself could not drive.
Tawde recalls, I maintained my speed between 30-40 km and it was a smooth drive till we reached Panvel, when I felt irritation in my eyes and halted to buy a pair of sunglasses.
I was heading towards the main entrance of the Karnala Bird Sanctuary and was a few metres away. It was a steep slope and I was to take a sharp turn, when another Omni (golden in colour) overtook my vehicle in great speed, cutting the lane.
 The Omni in which Swapnil Tawde and his family were travelling to RatnagiriI was already finding it difficult to drive because of the extra load in my car. Suddenly I spotted a Scorpio coming from the other direction towards me and a stone on the left side of the road. All I could do at that time was take a sharp turn to avert an accident but everything blacked out thereafter.
Our vehicle turned turtle and I heard the carrier breaking off. Then I started blanking out and heard loud thuds of the vehicle falling. Within seconds, the vehicle had rolled down a 40 feet valley and came to a halt after hitting a rock. I realised we were stuck in the middle I could see the vehicle hanging in mid-air and a stream flowing below. The vehicle doors seemed to be jammed and I feared the worst.
My first thought was that it was all because of me. But then I broke open the front door when I saw my father struggling to come out. I pulled him out and luckily my cousin Rupesh Utekar (22) jumped out unhurt too. We both pulled out the rest of the injured.
By then a crowd had gathered and they came to our assistance. But another cousin Sandesh Utekar (20) was motionless. My mother Mohini (42) was in the same condition. A traffic cop had already called for an ambulance and we were all bundled in it.
We were taken to a private hospital in Panvel. That night, Sandesh told me that the police had recorded his statement and held me responsible for the accident. The next moment, a phone call from Panvel Taluka police station instructed me to surrender.
I was scared and my parents were still lying unconscious in the ICU. I went to the police station for the first time in my life. The police explained the legal complications and detained me.
Luckily, with the assistance of a few local politicians, I evaded arrest that night but was instructed to be present at the Panvel court the next evening.
In the court, the magistrate agreed to bail me out after my father intervened and apologised on my behalf. He came to the court with his broken shoulder, holding a saline bottle, against the doctors advice.
He also arranged for local surety as wanted by the court and arranged for the bail amount of Rs 10,000 in a short time. Otherwise I would have spent two nights behind bars.
It was Ganpati Bappas blessing which not only saved our lives, but also set our bad omen aside. All the injured are back home, safe.
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