'... when I almost lost my family'

The gift of life is more important than anything else you receive in life; treasure every minute of it; treat each moment as your last ... sounds like a cliche, right? But it begins to be the most treasured cliche when you are in a situation that reiterates its timeless truth.

For Priyani Prakash, an art and craft teacher at The Oxford School, Dubai, the experience of almost losing her whole family in one stroke reiterated the importance of why we should not take this immeasurably precious blessing called life lightly.

Every moment with your loved ones, she realised, should be cherished.

"We have always been an extremely close family," says Priyani.

"My husband, Prakash, and I met and married in 1983 in Sri Lanka, a few months before the worst ethnic riots the country had seen. Although we belong to different ethnic backgrounds, we have never had any differences ... thanks to the fact that both our families did not have an issue with it.

"Over the years, we have been totally devoted to each other and blessed with two wonderful boys. I've always been grateful for what we have.

"However, until that fateful day four years ago - when I almost lost the three people I love most - I never realised just how precious life is and how fragile our existence.

"It was just another weekday for us. Prakash, my sons Yohan and Dyan (17 and 14 at the time) and I were going through the morning routine: having breakfast, getting ready, giving the perfunctory hugs and saying our goodbyes at the door before heading off into the city's traffic and trying to get to work on time.

"That afternoon, both boys had sports practice after school, so Prakash was to pick them up on his way home from work.

"It was about 4.30 pm and I was already home, expecting them back any minute when I received a phone call. It was Prakash at the other end and from his shaky 'Hello' I knew immediately that something was amiss.

"As my heart raced, all he had time to tell me was that they'd been in a car accident near the Qusais Police Station, but that everything was alright. Before I could ask another question, my mind screaming for the safety of my sons, Prakash handed the phone to Yohan and Dyan so they too could assure me that they were safe.

"Despite speaking to them, I wasn't comforted by the brief phone call. There was no way I could hang around at home waiting for them; I had to see them and make sure they were absolutely safe," she says.

"I snatched my handbag, ran outside and hailed a cab. I wasn't sure about the exact spot of the accident, so I told the driver to head towards the Qusais Police Station and look out for a spot where there had been an accident.

"Those five minutes sitting in that taxi as it sped along were the longest five minutes of my life. My mind kept playing back the shaky voices of Prakash and the boys even as I tried to keep my worst fears at bay.

"At last we approached the scene of the accident. Despite the reassurances of Prakash and my children, my heart sank as I heard the sirens and saw the number of police vehicles and ambulances there. As I got closer, I saw that our car was on its side and completely smashed. It was lying next to a huge bulldozer.

"I don't think I will ever forget that feeling or the taste in my mouth as I took in the scene of the accident. It was the most terrifying moment of my life," she recalls.

The next few moments were a blur. Priyani rushed from the taxi and ran through the crowd, tears streaming down her face, searching for her family, as the enormity of her love for them struck her.

"It probably took just a few seconds before I spotted them standing beside an ambulance but those few seconds seemed like eternity," she recalls. "One second my mind was blank with fear, the next it was jammed with memories, thoughts and all the things unsaid ...

"But as I took in the sight of them standing unhurt, safe, I realised I was witnessing a miracle. If you had seen the state of the car, beyond recognition and completely destroyed, you would've never believed that its occupants could have survived the accident without a scratch. (The vehicle was hauled off to the scrapyard)."

Prakash described the incident to her - the bulldozer was in front of the car when it suddenly changed lanes. Prakash and Dyan were sitting in the front and Yohan in the back. As the car struck the bulldozer, it overturned and careened to the side of the road.

The two boys managed to wriggle out, but Prakash was stuck inside. Yohan, however, managed to pull his father out.

"At that moment we all realised the true meaning of the term 'the gift of life'. Since that evening we have grown even closer as a family and our faith in everything we always believed in - God, love and family - has been getting stronger by the day.

"Now my sons are abroad at university but their absence, hard as it is to bear, only makes our bonds stronger," says Priyani.

"Whenever members of a family get into a petty fight or a thorny issue rears its head, they should close their eyes for a minute and imagine what it would be to lose a loved one in one stroke, like I almost did.

"Instantly they will stop arguing and begin to value what they have."