Delhites-The Accidental Donor

A car driven by twins under the heavy influence of alcohol crashes and lands them in the hospital fighting for their life.

April-November 2016

The Accidental Donor

‘Are you sure, you can drive?’

‘Of course, I was born to drive.’

Twins, Roy and Ray Gonsalves had just finished enjoying their graduation bash with friends at The Taj Palace Hotel. Designer Alcohol had flowed like water. They were sons to a wealthy designer family in the city of Delhi. They wobbled as they walked towards their brand-new sports car. It was a Porsche Carrera, gifted to Roy for his graduation. He had topped his batch in Design from the prestigious National Institute of Fashion Technology-NIFT for short.  

Ray was still yet to earn his gift.

‘You top the college and you will have the car of your choice,’ his father’s words echoed in his ears.

‘Lucky b***h,’ Ray thought as he saw his brother get into the driver’s seat of the Porsche. The twins were inseparable and were the best of friends.

Both were achievers academically but arrogant and socially reckless. They were often bailed out by parents, Robert and Rachel, much to their embarrassment. Robert Gonsalves was a successful fashion designer in the city of Delhi, and he had built a vast fashion empire across Asia and Europe. His wife Rachel Gonsalves was the CEO of their Label called ‘Aura’. Because Aura had become a huge success internationally, the family was able to maintain an opulent lifestyle. They had never always been rich. Robert Gonsalves was the son of a fisherman from Goa who had come to Delhi with only twenty rupees in his pocket. Having survived an abject and deprived childhood, he had vowed he’d never let his family face hardships. During his journey he met a wonderful mate in Rachel who admired his self belief. Both were doting parents who lived their dreams through the boys. The twins had come into their lives after almost twenty years of marriage and hence, their entire life revolved around their sons. Robert could never find it in himself to refuse his sons anything that was asked or demanded. As the years went by, the boys never heard or understood the simplicities and complexities of the word, ‘No’. Every year the twins grew older, the parents gifted them the best that their money could buy.

The year of 1999 was no different as Roy won his Porsche. In his mind, he was twenty years old and had just topped NIFT. He had the best sports car that everyone dreamt of but only a few could own. Roy had decided to throw a graduation bash for all his friends and they all partied till closure time. The responsible hotel staff politely but firmly nudged the revelers out of the pub.  

1:03 AM

‘F****n hotel staff.’

‘Don’t they know who I am?’

Ray looked at Roy and said. ‘Yo bro, we are lucky. They do know who we are and they still served us booze. We should be twenty five to be drinking.’

Roy was annoyed at what his brother said and blurted out ‘You shut your mouth and get in. Let’s move this party home.’

The twins got into the Porsche and turned up the volume on ‘Livin on the edge’, a track from Aerosmith. Roy drunk on Chivas and high on his recent success moved the Porsche into top gear and sped out of the Hotel with his tires screeching along the way.

The car hit its top speed within a few minutes of coming onto Sardar Patel Marg.

1:06 AM

‘Watch it Roy you are doing 160.’

‘Shut up and enjoy the ride Ray.’

‘You’re about to……’

It was all over within seconds. The speeding Porsche Carrera crashed into a man who appeared out of nowhere. The impact was such that he was thrown twenty feet into the air and fell on the pavement hitting his head.

The car meanwhile careened off the road and crashed into a Dumpster parked on the right side. The force of the crash was such that all that was left of the Carrera was a mangled heap.

The air smelled of burnt rubber and fuel in the air.

Fortunately the crash happened at a junction and there were a few people about.

1:15 AM

Crucial minutes passed as more feet scrambled around the site. Someone from the crowd had dialed 100 and 102. The Ambulance screeched to a halt with sirens blazing on to the road near the crash site. The smell of fuel and smoke from the wreckage stung everyone who was around the accident site. Some of the friends who were tailing the twins had stopped their cars and couldn’t believe the sudden turn of events. The girlfriends had burst into tears, while the boys were on their phones looking animatedly hysterical. Curious onlookers kept adding to the growing numbers around the crash site.

Rachel Gonsalves was in deep sleep. She swung her arm towards Robert’s side of the bed, and instinctively woke up, finding it empty. She then switched the bedside lamp on and checked the time on her mobile.

1:18 AM

She smiled gently realizing that the boys were not yet home and their father was sitting downstairs in the dining room, waiting patiently for their return. Forty years of marriage made her know Robert’s mind and behavior.

She tiptoed downstairs towards the dining room and saw Robert lost in thought. His mobile lay next to him on the table with a cup of coffee in hand.

‘Did you try calling them?’ she asked Robert as she opened the refrigerator for a bottle of water.

‘Yes, I just dialed Roy, his phone was not reachable. So I dialed Ray and his phone is ringing with no answer.’

‘I am worried Honey. It’s unlike them to be this late,’ he said looking worried.

‘Oh my God, no! What do you think has happened now my darling?’ she asked smiling.  

‘You are always playing mummy to them. Our boys are men now and we should let them be.’

1:25 AM

Their conversation was cut short by the dull sound of Robert’s phone vibrating on the dining table.

‘Private number calling’ flashed on his screen.

Hours later, there was an eerie silence within the noise, along the corridor of the Operation Theatre at AIIMS. The twins were popular and hence the corridor swelled with friends and well wishers of the family. Robert and Rachel sat on the wooden bench outside the Operation Theatre in stunned silence. Their lives had flashed many times over since last night. The two reasons of their existence were now battling for their lives on operating tables with surgeons playing God.

3:15 PM

The Investigating Officer from the Delhi Police had just come in and was asking questions to the medical staff. He seemed irritated at being made to wait to speak with the doctors. He walked up to Robert in a stereotypical sway with an idiotic sense of authority, and two constables in tow.

 He gave a mock gasp. ‘So Mr. Gonsalves, it is your sons again.’

‘Which one was it this time behind the wheel? Roy or Ray?’ he laughed sarcastically.

‘This time they have gone too far and may have killed a man.’

‘Spoilt brats of wealthy parents.’

The Officer kept on ranting for a few minutes trying to get a reaction from the parents.

Robert Gonsalves lowered his face with a mix of guilt and surrender. He did not know what to say or how to react to the Officer’s ill timed comments. Rachel stood behind her husband quietly sobbing.

4:30 PM

Dr. Anand Sharma, who was the chief operating surgeon attending to Roy and Ray, came out of the Operation Theatre. He had been in surgery for over ten hours. Rubbing his hands, he frowned, wrinkles on his aged face showing. He took a deep breath and spoke calmly.

‘Mr. Gonsalves, it’s not looking good. Both have extensive injuries and are in coma.’

‘Both of Roy’s kidneys experienced what we call a crush injury and that has resulted in Renal Trauma of grade-5. He would need a transplant. His other abdominal organs were not damaged, except his kidneys.’

He continued ‘Ray has got a Liver Injury of grade-4. His liver has multiple lacerations due to trauma. Unfortunately, he would need an immediate transplant if we are looking at him to survive.’

‘Roy’s transplant can wait, but Ray’s cannot.’

‘Now both your sons have the extremely rare Bombay (Oh) blood type, and do not match either Mrs. Gonsalves’s or yours.’

‘To operate on them we need more blood.’

‘We are using the units that your family in good sense stored in our blood bank, but please see if you can arrange for more, through donors from your family that may have the same blood type.’

‘Time is critical, and now I have to be honest about the situation you’re in. Here are the options.

Option one: We use one of Ray’s kidneys and save Roy.

Option two: We use Roy’s liver and save Ray.’

‘Only one of them can be donor and the other can be recipient.’

‘It is a miracle they are still breathing, and it may be because of the airbags that saved them from a certain end.’

‘Please make a decision within the next couple of hours and let us know. I will be in my cabin awaiting your decision.’

Dr. Sharma offered a consolatory pat on the shoulder of Robert and walked away.

With a heavy heart ‘a couple of hours’, he thought to himself, to decide which son would live and who would not.

Tears ran down his cheeks for the first time since the accident, the night before.

‘Rachel, what did we do wrong to deserve this?’

She hugged him hard as she bit into his shoulder trying to douse the sound of her crying. Robert wobbled and was not able to stand and Rachel helped him sit back on the bench.

Seated next to him was another old man dressed in white. The man had a concerned look on his face. He had heard everything Dr. Sharma and Officer Rana told Robert.

‘Hello my name is Sohrab. My apologies, I couldn’t help listening to what your doctor told you.’

‘You have my sympathies,’ he said with a voice of concern and a smile across his face.

‘Destiny can be really cruel and it seems to have put you in an unenviable situation,’

Rachel wiped her tears away, still holding onto her husband. She realized she needed to be strong for Robert.

‘I will get us some coffee. Can you please give my husband some company till I get back?’

Sohrab nodded gently.

Robert cleared his throat as he tried to recall what Sohrab said. Who was this man and why was he seated here? He looked like a man in his late seventies and was dressed in a white shirt and pajamas. He spoke with a rude and sarcastic tone at times, the other times he sounded comforting, caring and concerned. 

‘Tell me Mr. Gonsalves what is going through your mind? Share it with me, maybe, I can offer some perspective?’

Robert spoke ‘Our sons were a gift from destiny. We owe our success, fame and fortune to their arrival in our lives. Whatever we have is theirs and it’s of no value to us if they are not there to inherit it. My father was a poor fisherman. If he didn’t catch fish, we had nothing to eat that day. One day on an empty stomach, I swore never to let my family feel inadequate. Our fortunes rose with their sudden arrival. We just didn’t find it in our hearts to deny them anything they wanted. Does that make us bad parents? We really don’t know now. They are brilliant in what they do, but arrogance has grown with their brilliance. We have been embarrassed many times before by their behavior, but our love made us blind and numb towards their antics. This feels like retribution from destiny. The doctor asked us to choose which son to save. Destiny gave us our sons, only to take away one of them. I cannot find the heart to choose. I do not know what to do.’

Robert drowned his face in his palms and he started crying.

Sohrab was touched with what he heard from Robert.

In an assuring tone he said ‘You seem to be a big believer in destiny. Keep the faith in it then. You never know what destiny has in store for your family and you.’

Sohrab noticed Rachel walking towards them with two cups of coffee. He acknowledged her with a smile as she thanked him for taking care of Robert.

The old man then stood up from the bench with a bit of difficulty. It was evident, his arthritis troubled him. He walked away from the couple towards the end of the corridor and disappeared. 

6:30 PM

Robert gripped Rachel’s hand as they saw Dr. Anand Sharma walk towards them. These two hours seemed like eternity. They had still not decided, Roy or Ray.

He seemed to be in hurry and said ‘Mr. and Mrs. Gonsalves, we need to operate immediately on both the boys. I do not have the time to explain. But here you can read this letter. It is for you.’

Saying this he disappeared into the Operation Theatre with his team following him. Within a few minutes the Red light glowed.

Many questions were unanswered leaving the couple in a confused state.

Robert gently opened the letter to read its contents. Rachel stood behind him and read the letter with him.

It was addressed to the twins. It read:

Dear Roy & Ray

Zubin was our only son. After nearly twenty five years of marriage, he was born to us as a gift from Khodaiji. I even remember the look on Roshan’s face, that day, when she was told, she was going to be a mother at the age of forty two. Our son Zubin was a beautiful obedient child and loving in every way. He gave us the best years of our long uneventful lives. He was on his way back home that night when destiny brought him in front of your car. He had just finished his night duty and was returning home.

 ‘Rasta par che, aavi rayoch Papa-(I am on my way home Papa)’

Those were the last words I heard from my son.

He was still breathing when he was brought to the hospital. Hope is all we had. We did not know how to react when the Neurologist said that there was nothing he could do and Zubin was brain dead. We were trying to come to terms with our loss, when the Neurologist’s colleague, Dr. Sharma wanted to speak with us urgently. He told us about both of you. He said both your kidneys and liver were badly damaged due to trauma from the accident. The doctor further mentioned that an immediate kidney and liver transplant was the only way to save both your lives. Now Zubin was special in many ways, but his blood type being Bombay (Oh) made him more unique. It was when both the doctors mentioned the strange coincidence of your blood groups being Bombay (Oh), we understood their request. Dr. Sharma continued ‘For any transplant to be successful, the donor and recipient would need to have the same blood type’. Roshan looked at me and nodded. We gave our permission needed to carry out the transplants immediately. Zubin himself would have wanted it that way. He was already a pledged donor for some of his vital organs.

I had feelings of resentment, bitterness, hatred, anger towards your family and you for having taken away my only boy. Sitting outside the operating theatre, on the bench next to your father, I saw him cry for both of you. Talking to him, while both of you were fighting for your lives made me see how similar and different destiny can be. Both of you got a lot of father’s love and you took advantage of it. He is a good man.

The one regret I will have, is living the rest of my life, not telling my son enough, how much I loved him.

          We hope that both of you can learn to be responsible young men after what has happened. Both of you have a part of Zubin in you. As far as the law is concerned, I have requested the Police to drop the case, but they say that law will take its course and both of you will face trial. The police officer said that it may have been a tyre burst that spun the car out of control, but your blood reports showed that both of you were highly intoxicated.

I hope the burden of guilt makes better men of you.

With regards

(Sohrab and Roshan Dinshaw

Parents of Zubin-The Accidental Donor)

6:40 PM

Tears of a million emotions rolled down Robert and Rachel Gonsalves’s eyes. In less than twenty four hours, destiny had given their sons a second chance at life.

[Message: Don’t let your drink control the outcome of your drive.]