Update (December 18, 2011): If you go by this report on Mid-Day, I suppose Sachin Gothi has some serious explanation to offer.
‘Accident’ tweet sends cops on wild goose chase.
Original post:
On November 12th night (or 13th early morning, to be precise) as I finished watching a film on my Galaxy S2, I took one last look at my Twitter timeline before sleeping. One tweet caught my attention and I immediately retweeted it, in the hope that something useful may come off it. That tweet was this, from @vidyut.
Urgent #accident help @yoursachingothi needs help near #Rajkot. It sounds like he is bleeding and injured and robbed after car crash.
I didn’t think much of it then, but the combination of ‘bleeding’, ‘injured’ and worse, ‘robbed’ bothered me then and there and I simply retweeted it without thinking about how it may help.
This morning I saw a message from Vidyut,
@anaggh @beastoftraal @yoursachingothi done. just sorted. thanks a lot 🙂 #accident #Rajkot
That made me curious and reminded me of my midnight retweet. I checked on the history from what I could gather online and here’s what I found!
Sachin Gothi tweeted this shocking sentence, late last night.
right hand leg not working .. Nobody around .. Somebody picked my wallet .. And heavy blooding !
This is from the mobile web, so he has a phone with internet access. I’m not sure what Sachin did in terms of calling people for help, but there are some signs of it too, on his timeline, as part of a chat session with another Twitter user, Neeraj Mallick, who seems to be the first and most active person to keep Sachin engaged and helped him.
Neeraj: @yoursachingothi whr r u now?? Need help?
Sachin: @neerajmallick need help near Rajkot .. Car crushed .. Plz RT
Neeraj: @yoursachingothi call police and highway ambulance..
Sachin: @neerajmallick called 100 and 101 .. No response .. 3 ghante se aise hi pada hun
Neeraj: @yoursachingothi is ur number wrkn..jo kal diya tha??..m goin to pass that to my frend..reply
By then, a few other people got into the act with Tweets like,
Paras Shah: @yoursachingothi I have asked a friend from rajkot to see if he can help you. Let me know your mobile number.
WordOfTheFree: @yoursachingothi some police numbers here. Try calling is.gd/70iIBC
Neeraj himself stayed on the topic as his tweets show.
Neeraj: Anyone near Rajkot plz help @yoursachingothi ..he met with an accident..plz RT
Fuck….let me check highway ambulance number..wait RT @yoursachingothi: @neerajmallick called 100 and 101 .. No response .. 3 ghante se ais
@yoursachingothi call this police station kadpura, rajkot : 02812577579
@yoursachingothi delhigate police station number 0281-2425917
Anyone having these guys numbers plz respond asap @hunk4ca @_silly_boy_ …need help at rajkot for crash victim
Give me ur location …i will try to get help.. @yoursachingothi
If my number is unreachable try calling at 8860391563… @yoursachingothi
I want to get help him…plz suggest…his phone unreachble n dnt knw his location, he is near rajkot at NH 8A… @yoursachingothi
@d_asopa someone informed the police commisoner..hopefully he will get help soon ..pray for him
And then, the resolution, from Sachin, on tweets.
108 responded .. Will attend me in next 15 minutes .. Thanks #twitter and @neerajmallick .. My phone is discharge too
@neerajmallick thanks bro .. U saved my life .. Pased out 3 times and now 100calls but ambulance coming
and here comes help .. Feeling so much thankful to my #twitter family .. Thanks
Not a crybaby .. But love and care showed by unknown friends on twitter gave me a new life .. Thank you all
been carried back to Mumbai .. Family is with me now .. My phone is dead .. Have 6 fractures and 32 stitches (on November 13th, morning)
My curiosity was piqued. How do Sachin and Neeraj know each other that Neeraj stayed on with Sachin via Twitter (or phone calls) and eventually was instrumental in helping him in some way?
The answer was in a conversation between Neeraj and another Twitter user, Divyanshu Asopa.
Divyanshu: @neerajmallick can we get down to his FB profile and let someone know…
Neeraj: @d_asopa he is my twtr friend…i got his number yesterday only…dunno about his fb…i checked but so many people with that name
That’s it? Twitter friend? Not even a Facebook friend! And people think Twitter is pointless waste of time? Yeah right.
To be clear, you need to have a circle of friends on Twitter to see you through such needy hours. Sachin has about 260+ followers on Twitter and one such follower (Neeraj) turned to be of incredible help, at the right time, mobilizing and discussing help with other Twitter users, in the night.
Just imagine how things may have worked if there was no Twitter and Sachin only had a vanilla phone. He’d have called friends and waited for friends to call him back. Friends would have called people they know and waited for help to happen. All that happens on one-to-one communication modes. One of the more important things that happened was the fact that Neeraj was in touch with Sachin, on Twitter, giving him company and keeping him sane. The fact that all this happened in a many-to-many communication mode makes a BIG difference. That is indeed the magic of many-to-many communication modes, like social media – the whole discussion is as public as it can be and anybody can jump in and out at whatever point they like.
Result…all those retweets for help. One such tweet from Vidyut is what I noticed and forwarded. It may not have helped since Neeraj was on the job anyway, but for a person who is injured, bleeding and robbed on a highway, every little help matters, I’d assume. All the retweets may not help him, but it may at least keep him sane when he sees the number of people trying in small ways to pass the word around. In Sachin’s case, Twitter not only kept him sane, but actually helped him too!
Kudos to Neeraj and others who pitched in late in the night and ensured that Sachin reached a hospital. These tweets from Neeraj, later in the night, gets things back into Twitter fun mode 🙂
U seriuosly need to change ur number @yoursachingothi ….even Rajkot police failed to reach u at that number
Meri neend ud gayi is saale @yoursachingothi ke chakkar me..;)
@KaruGurnani tension na lo…jab wo thik hoke ayega to use GPL deke party lenge 😉
Oye saale call kar @yoursachingothi …aur apna dabba mobile change kar
Heartwarming story, this!
Pic courtesy: Softicons.com