This article is related to road safety. But, it’s not a lecture one gets from his/her elders. Its something a youngster would like to lecture his/her elders.
Suppose Mr. X has met with an accident and Mr. A, Mr. B and Mr. C are talking about him.
Mr. A: He is in severe pain. O God… help him.
Mr. B: yeah… life’s so unpredictable. He just left my place yesterday…completely fine at that moment…just a nick of time … and that’s where he is… poor creature lying on the bed…
Mr. C: I can guarantee you… half of these accidents would not happen… if these youngsters stop driving vehicles…
Mr. A in affirmation:
“O these youngsters! They don’t care about anything… what do they want…? they want bikes, bands and babes… (Although doesn’t sound quite a civilised word, the alliteration here has come beautifully…in fact these are not the words, an elderly person would generally use, but exaggeration just adds to the special effect… so go on)… they just want to fly on the roads… zoom their karizmas just for showing off… careless, arrogant, rash drivers…its because of them these incidents happen… and blah blah blah…..”
And this story continues for hours… with each elderly gentleman sharing his/her own experience…
This was something completely normal...something often heard... So lets come to something new... my views on this topic…my arguments against above mentioned generally prevalent belief…
But before that let’s look at some of the salient features of walled Jaipur city streets…. (The origin of this article is in fact the walled city of
- Streets full of people on all kinds of vehicles… bicycles, cycle-rickshaws, scooters, bikes, cars and even buses…
- Streets filled with a lot of people…
- Streets filled with a lot of animals (esp. cows and dogs)
- Streets filled with a lot of pits including uncovered manholes … (the kids here have become smart…hence they don’t fall in them…and don’t attract any media or army attention…because of one does such a thing… plenty of other people have a similar option..)
- People like the music of horns… so even when the person is aware that the vehicle ahead of them cannot move unless, the vehicle ahead of that vehicle moves… they will turn on the music of horns…
- In Jaipur, it is believed that if a new driver can cross the Chandpole area without hitting or getting hit by someone… he is qualified to drive anywhere else in the world…
Then, there are certain rules people follow…and mind you… people in Jaipur take these rules very seriously…
People, who cross a street, follow one of these 2 rules…
- Directly run…without looking here and there… getting hurt is not your fault…. It’s the driver’s fault….
- Look here and there… walk straight…don’t stop in the middle of the road… just bring your palm in the front… show that to the drivers… and signal them to stop… like a traffic police does… and walk calmly…
People walking on footpath follow these rules…
- First rule is… never walk on footpath… walk on streets… footpaths are generally for the shopkeepers to display their products…
- Never hear the horns of the vehicles, while walking… we the walkers are the ones supposed to be on roads…In case you get hurt… don’t worry the crowd will always be with you…
- Only when someone shouts…’ arey mataji… zara side ho jao..’ or ‘uncleji…hato samne se…’ or ‘behre…sunayi nahi deta hai kya??’or ‘***** ***** ****’ then only move aside… otherwise the road is yours…the driver has to adjust his movement according to you…
In such circumstances…if a youngster hits someone…(Of course non intentionally), its his fault… why…?? …simple… because he is a youngster…
So, knowing this we youngsters drive very cautiously… One of my friends got himself injured in order to save a confused pedestrian...that too just at the speed of 20kmph…
Unfortunately… even then people don’t believe us… L …and we can’t do anything about it… We just hope… this message reached those who always take it for granted… accident implies a youngster…
My message:
Youngsters… don’t worry… hit anyone who bothers you while driving… in any case loss will be yours…(either you end up getting injured, while saving someone… or you end up a being called rash driver…)
Elderly people… beware…my message has reached the GenNext…!!!
J
good good .. you have a flair for writing .. I liked "music of horns" and "just bring your palm in front"
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