On the 30th of March, at 7:30 am, about 10 volunteers from Kalyan and Shahad Centers, left by a Sumo vehicle to coordinate upasana at two places near Kasara in a region called Vashala. Another set of 10 volunteers from Bhandup (East and West) centers, also traveling by a Sumo, met us near Kasara. To reach the village of Veluk one has to traverse a short ghat section after passing the Central School at Vashala. While driving up the ghat section at a steep blind corner; our Sumo suddenly left its path in an attempt to give way to another vehicle coming from the opposite direction. The driver had stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes. The car kept rattling along the rugged terrain, bumping and sliding at places. All of us kept screaming “Bapu Bapu”. The car just would not stop. Finally on seeing a huge deep ditch in front of us, we just closed our eyes and braced ourselves to face the imminent final moments of our lives. Right at that moment, everyone called out to Bapu in shear desperation and the car just halted as it is. When we opened our eyes, to our amazement, the car had been stopped by just a feeble dry shrub. A few moments later, the shrub fell into the ditch. Instead of us falling in the ditch, it was the shrub that had fallen into the ditch.
- Mugdhaveera Durve, June 2009
