One
As a youngster, after months of constant pestering, my father finally bought me a Bajaj Pulsar. Due to my rather casual approach to riding back then; I thought swerving through traffic, braking late, accelerating too hard were synonymous with control. There was a crying need for me to learn a lesson which I did, pretty soon. I was zig-zagging through peak hour traffic at perilous speeds, foolishly relying too much on those miserable drum brakes and the feather light front that hardly provided any traction under heavy braking. I must have been riding at 60-80km/h on the left of an auto rickshaw when it violently swerved towards me. I responded by turning towards the left too and hit a patch of dust.

The bike skidded and I landed on my face and shoulder, sliding for at least 30 to 40 meters. My helmet and shoulder rubbed against the road. When I stopped, there just was a thin film of plastic on the left of the helmet preventing my face from coming in direct contact with the tar. Sans the helmet, my head would have busted open on the very impact with the asphalt. If I managed to survive that, the dynamic contact with the rough tar would have shredded my face enough to look nothing better than Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight flick. My shoulder muscles were ripped open and ruptured and I was bedridden for about two months.

Two

We was leaned over around a rather tricky corner on a Pulsar 180. It was a left hander. As I made the corner and tried to lift the bike up again, a canine friend suddenly shot out of a gate (at the exit of the apex), making me brake hard. I lost balance, ended in a high-side, got flung and landed on my back. I was wearing a leather jacket, thankfully, with a spine protector that took almost all of the impact allowing me to get back on my feet. Without the back protector, a bone or two from my spine would surely have broken. My back was sore for a few days with red and black blemishes all over, but that was about it.

Three

Riding in the rain is always treacherous. The situation becomes all the more perilous if your bike's brakes don't have the bite and the tyres don't have the grip. I was riding the Pulsar 180 for a trip to Mumbai from Pune. The brakes were fading and I got a hint of the fact early on during the ride. But they still seemed good enough so I was not overly cautious. After exiting the expressway, (the only stretch where two-wheelers are allowed) I joined the old highway once again. I was taken for a surprise as I braked while taking the corner through the first rain soaked underpass. The brakes didn't work progressively, requiring me to squeeze the lever and the skittish front rubber didn't help either.

I decided to take a wider circumference but to my misfortune, the road had loose gravel and grit on the edge. I had scrubbed off a good amount of speed, so I slid the bike on purpose to avert a direct impact with the barrier on the left. My hand scraped against the sharp pebbles that are so fond of entering your flesh, making life difficult for the surgeon who picks them out. Leather gloves made sure my palm didn't even have a scratch. No damage done, just a torn pair of Levi's worth Rs 1400. My Nokia 6233 lost its screen and battery to protect my thigh (not that I recommend using it for safety).

The moral of these stories is always wear protection, it'll help you survive. With no reference to AIDS, I am one of the living proofs!