At the helm of affairs

Good morning, all of you. Today I would like to bring an issue to your attention; an issue which has its fair share of humor, some contrite embarrassment as well as a serious undertone.  No, I am not about to describe a rom-com (a romantic comedy) here. This particular issue has been making headlines for quite some time now, and despite the sometimes grim undertone or serious incidents related to it, I must confess it is still downright funny to read about the lighter aspects of it.

Before, I begin; I would like to ask you all as to how many amongst you have heard of or at least sung the popular nursery song, “Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall”. I am hoping most of you must have. Well, the poem goes on to describe how he had been sitting on a wall and how he fell down, leading to the  crack of his egg shaped head, something which “all the King’s horses and all the King’s men” could not fix, to their dismay.

Now, what essentially happens when an egg falls on the ground? Its shell cracks and a yellowish liquid (the yolk) come out. Just as it is not possible to put back the shell or pour the spilled yolk into the egg, so it is with a bleeding human head, which one cracked in a fatal manner, cannot be repaired or fixed, except perhaps in the event of a miracle.

But why and indeed how should the human head crack at all is a question I am sure most of you will have.

Well, one of the primary reasons for such an occurrence (unless one lives in the jungle or close to it) is if one fails or decides not to obey the traffic rules.

As our country is governed by the Constitution, so are its roads ruled by the Constitution of road rules or traffic rules.

These include (at a pretty much grassroots level):-

1)   Waiting for the signal to turn green before crossing the road.

2)   Using the zebra walking striped portion to cross the road.

3)   Wearing a helmet while riding a bike

4)   Wearing a seatbelt while driving a car.

5)   Not talking on the phone while riding a bike or driving a car or while walking on the road or crossing the road.

And so on and so forth.

However, almost childishly, most youngsters (and sadly and alarmingly) and even adults take a great joy in flouting or breaking

The main question I ask them, is why? What great joy do you all derive in breaking these rules, I ask? Do you all consider it to be a sign of great bravado or machismo or something to that effect? I regret to inform all of you that it is not so. Despite the number of road accidents increasing year after all, and in some cases, month after month, it appears that people have still or yet not woken up to the fact that flouting or breaking rules can lead to a loss of life.

It is indeed all the more ironical to note that for a generation that believes in the rather bold proclamation or saying of “Yolo” or “You Only Live Once” (which basically means that they believe in one life being given to a person and that they should utilize this lifetime to the fullest by ‘living it up’ or by engaging in activities which make for great memories), flouting traffic rules by not wearing seatbelts while driving or by not wearing helmets while riding, despite a very real possible  risk or threat to life. And why do they not wear helmets?

Because of the way the leading heroes in Bollywood movies ride bikes without helmets to enhance their appearance and to appear ‘stylish’ and ‘cool’. It is another matter that when such sequences are filmed, the roads on which they are filmed are locked down or shut down and there is no virtually no traffic (except for in a chase sequence and even then the traffic is regulated). That is why one can see most young men riding their bikes with the air of Tom Cruise being chases by goons or bad guys. And indeed, their manner is such that it appears as if they are being filmed.

And when asked as to why their helmets hang balefully from their bike handle bars instead of regally sitting on their heads, they look sheepish and are often speechless. And in case of couples (bikes with couples), the guys object rather lamely by saying, “dada, chede din Na, tada chilo” or “sir, please leave us; we were in a hurry. And when asked the cause of their hurrying, they are once again rendered speechless.

And all the above accounts deal only with helmet-ophobia.

I haven’t even mentioned the jay walking.

What is jay walking? It can be defined as the deliberate crossing of a road while the vehicles are moving with little or no regard for rules or their own lives.

In my city (Kolkata), this is a way of life. Yes, you read that right. It is the norm rather than the exception to jay walk and reach one’s destination early than to wait for a few minutes or seconds before crossing.

There have been so many instances of jay walking that it is hard to pick out a few of them.

And then, lastly, but never the least, comes the issue of using the mobile phones while driving or riding. This had been going on for many years now but nothing concrete was being done about it. However, recently, the cops did put into effect a new law which allowed the cops or gave them the power to snatch the driving licenses and the  mobile phones of those found using them, along with a first time fee of 1000 and then on from 2000 onwards. This law has begun to mercifully manifest itself as now, fewer and fewer people are using their mobile phones while driving and a fraction of them don’t even touch their phones owing to the embarrassment factor of being publicly reprimanded by the cops.

I would like to thank the Kolkata Police for such a daring initiative which has, even if not wholly or by a very big margin, has slowly started to curb the prevalent lawlessness bit by bit.

I would like to end my monologue (or this blog post, if you wish) with a sincere request to all of you to not conform to style or show off while driving or riding. Jai Hind!