Yet another road crash............

Road accidents are a very common feature on Indian thoroughfares. Without getting into the statistics and its subsequent analysis, I can easily vouch for having passed by at least 10 such causalities 'blocking' the traffic and umpteen no. of injured people lying in similar state, in less than 26 years of my existence. This is when I do not work for traffic regulatory bodies and have never been associated with medicos. Nor do I happen to be an avid traveler. I have always come across these cases on my way from my home to school/ college or work.

The point to ponder is not about the when, where and how preceeding these incidents, but the actions taken by the silent passer-by's including me. Without the least amount of any pride in my act and ironically without much of remorse as well, I clearly remember myself staring at the 'victims' with great amount of shock, awe and pity, as long as my eye sight would permit, but without the least intent of stopping down to offer help of any sort. Okay, let me not paint myself as a brute, I might have helped a person here and there, but right now I am referring to strictly accident cases; cases where it is actually a matter of life and death and where, without any choice, a hefty portion of the responsibility falls on strangers like me who just happen to be at the 'wrong place' at the wrong (or may be right) time.

The point I am trying to raise out here is about the way we carry ourselves when face to face with emergency situations. Is it not so that in most of the cases we find ways to convince ourselves sufficiently to subdue to the guilt feeling? The practical mind almost always manages to overrule the emotional heart. And, with conviction about the 'only option we had' feeling, we manage to walk off without even a glance in the 'wrong' direction.

'Right' and 'wrong' are very perspective terms and it all comes down to how we interpret the situation. But don't you think that we have had too much of this 'chalta hai' attitude. How long can we continue turning a blind eye towards the system anomalies? For how long are we going to stay unconnected and unconcerned with everything happening around us concluding with a single one liner 'it’s none of my business’? This society is by us as much as we are by this society. If we are not going to make an effort for sorting up the matters, trust me no one else will. We are not living in a fairy land. Are we? No angel is going to come when we are all asleep and make everything right with a flick of a wand.

I spent the last twelve months of my life building a system, while trying to improve the quality of construction. I tried hard to understand my system's needs. I fought hard against the personal whims and interests of many others. Screaming from the bottom of the pyramid, in many occasions, my voice was lost in the chaos, but something told me to continue fighting. Eventually, after being forced to compromise on almost all the issues, to accept sub standard work and to call it my own, the system was eventually commissioned three months back.

To watch those lifeless sheets of metal turn into a functional machine was absolutely enthralling. My nervousness during commissioning and happiness thereafter matched that of a mother waiting for her child's board result. Though I felt on top of the world to see my system running, yet the happiness was marred by guilt and depression about the quality I had managed to deliver. I had perhaps managed to make 0.0000001% of difference to the system. And this was after having a new fight almost every single day during last one year. What efficiency!

Anyways, post commissioning, I took a long leave, fulfilling my life's biggest dream. On my return, the sight of my 'ex-site' made my heart bleed. The feeling of helplessness is back and I see my panels crying and their cries falling on deaf ears just like mine did.

I have once again become a 'passer - by' and the helpless accident victim is blocking the traffic on the main road. Like others, I too have started closing my eyes when faced with the 'unwanted' situations. My well wishers tell me to count my days and have a peaceful transfer and when the 'emotional' heart gets too difficult to handle, the practical mind knows sufficient methods to divert the topic altogether.

All of us are waiting for the patients to become critical enough to need specialists attending them. ‘Prevention is better than cure’ we sure have never heard this one! You tell me, have you ever seen people coming forward to help a victim who manages to stand erect within 5 minutes of the incident!