Friday nights are always party nights; the crowd, the crazy talks, the enthusiasm, the brightness, the grandeur and of course the fun. They always arouse you. All through February though, it was quiet - might be because of the void created by the just ended super bowl, or of the crazy Valentine's day celebrations, or probably I lost interest generally. Los Angeles always carries party nights, just not Fridays or Saturdays; but any other day of the week too. It was a fine Thursday night, 16th February 2012, my roommate and I were bored after office and chose the night off at our regular bar - the Sharkys @ Hemosa beach. It was also to celebrate my roommate's first anniversary; and to have a ball before he could take his wife on an anniversary vacation out of town (who was living in a different town and was supposed to come down the next day). As usual, the crowd was fantastic and live. I left my roomie dance and caught up with extreme sports on the grand TV in the bar. It was all a fine night, no complaints on the fun.
As it so happens, this night turned out to be very special and an unforgettable one for me. We were out of the bar during the closure time and were decently drunk. Neither too low nor too high, just the state you want to be to have a mini beach drive, catch a movie and a good night sleep. I caught up with a smoke and was surrounded by a decent college crowd. After being all quiet all through this time, I started conversing with a bunch of fellows around me, just exchanging a 'hi'. Just then a girl passed by us and gave a broad sigh on us. I know it was not targeted towards me and I noticed the guy next to me go all silent. I thought the girl had just ditched him and all I could tell him was 'bad luck'. Well the guy turned towards me and gave a nice long stare. After a while, he uttered a 'wassup'! The tone was easy to judge for me and I was ready to take this guy, well atleast I thought so. And so we both started moving around the corner of the street; a little away from the crowd.
After a few minutes I was lying on the ground with a pawed eyebrow and a scraped neck, a bleeding knee and mouthful of blood. Interesting to observe, all happened in a few minutes; but trying to recollect, all I remember is a punch on the face. The punch though, as I vividly regain my thought, was a violent one. A closed right fist from a lean-all-bone'y right armed young man came at a lightning speed to hit my left jaw. The other thing I was able to recollect in that moment was that there were three to five young men involved rather than one single person. Not sure, if each had planned a part of my body!
It was drama for the next ten minutes. Cops around, paramedics flying, I have to admit that I had been stubborn on the pain and had rejected medical attention immediately. So I chose to continue my beach drive, movie and good night sleep - just that none of those happened. It was such an uncomfortable sleep stretching well into the noon next day. My roommate had fortunately a good sleep and had taken off to office the morning and came back noon to home for lunch. All he had to do was to check my face out to see if I was still bleeding. Well I was not, but was swollen all over the face. He touched my cheek and I realized I had a severe problem. We rushed to the hospital.
It was a double fractured broken jaw!
