By now you have all heard our story of saving the Hindu Priest from an exploding car on I-95. For the sake of posterity, I will repeat it here.
We were driving to our friends' son's bris in New York early one morning. It was the first morning of daylight savings time, and it was early, so there were very few cars on the road. Ahead of us, I saw exhaust or smoke coming out of the back of a blue ford explorer. I suggested to Raphael that he pass the car so that we would not inhale the fumes through our ventilation system. As he was about to pass, I saw a large spark from the undercarriage of the car. Alarmed, I asked Raph if he saw it; he did not. We saw it again. Raph attempted to alert the driver by vigorously flashing our lights. The driver sped up. Within seconds, the car ahead of us started to catch fire. Large flames flickered from under the car. Raph compares how it looked to a flambe, when the item is not really on fire, but some fume is catching fire periodically. I called 911 as we sped up next to the car, rolled down our window and shouted to the man that his car was on fire, and that he should pull over. He did, as did we.
Once he pulled over, the car was smoking heavily from every crevice. After about a minute of watching the car and asking us what happened, he asked me to hold his briefcase because he had to get something in the car. I told him I didnt think he should go back in the car. He said he had to get some books. I realized he was wearing long ethnic robes and wonded what kind of books could possibly compel someone to head into a car that was just on fire, and asked, "are they religious books?" he said they were. I told him I was so sorry, that I understood, that I was religious too, and I knew those books were very important and expensive, but that I really did not think he should go back in the car. As he stood there pondering it, within 60 seconds, the entire car caught fire.
Once the car caught fire, the man and I stood there, dumbfounded, but Raph started honking and yelling to us that we had to move. the man and I jumped into our car; henry started to cry. we drove up ahead until we were far from the expanding smoke.
For about 10 minutes or so, we watched the car burn and listened to a series of small explosions. The man told me that just last night, he was giving a sermon about how god works in mysterious ways. He said this certainly was mysterious. I asked if he was a clergy and he told me he was a priest. I asked what type of priest and he told me hindu. He couldn't stop thanking me and repeating that he didn't even know how to thank me. He said that we did this wonderful thing for him, and now, we didn't know when or where, but wonderful things would happen to us. He told me he was on his way to officiate at something that sounded like a funeral, and said it had to be conducted by noon. He was concerned about whether he would arrive on time because the ceremony takes about 2 and a half hours. He called his wife from my cell phone a few times.
As we were speaking, the smoke grew thicker and blacker by the second, completely engulfing all of 95 in a thick stream of smoke. The car had become a fireball, at least 3 times the size of the car. We could not see the frame of the car at all- only fire. I thought the frame had burned to the ground. Eventually, another car pulled up, and from a distance, we could see a man jump out of his car and attempt to approach the burning car, ostensibly to see if anyone was inside needing rescue. We were too far to catch his attention. A few other cars stopped. Eventually an off duty police officer stopped and moved the other bystanders away from the car. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, the police came and shut 95.
The police were not very helpful to this man but instead coldly asked him if he had his license, and asked what happened. It was cold out but they did not offer him to sit in their squad car. When I asked the officer if they could give him a ride to his religious ceremony, the cop responded, "why dont you give him a ride." We decided to stay with the priest until his family arrived.
Finally, finally, the fire trucks arrived. I think it took about 45 minutes from when I first called 911 stating that a car was on fire and we were attempting to flag it down. As soon as the car was extinguished, the priest met up with his family. His wife was crying and hugged me. There were 2 or 3 other men with her, who came to get the priest as well. The priest told me that when he woke up that morning, something didn't feel right to him, that he felt disconnected. He said that his kids were supposed to have come with him, but they were sleeping so they didn't come.
When I got home that night, I was exhausted. The adrenaline from the day wore off and I crashed. I felt almost depressed! It wasn't a let down, but I think the scariness of the situation finally caught up with me. On the way home, Raph and I remarked how incredible it was that we reacted quickly and in the right way. We actually surprised ourselves! At the scene, I did not get the man's name, but I managed to give him our contact information. I had his wife's cell phone number on my phone from when he called her. I knew I'd speak to him again soon.
