Prices of dals are soaring, fruits and vegetables follow suit, property is unaffordable – the value of everything seems to be heading north! Yet, there is one thing which i feel is loosing value – Life! And i am not talking about finer things like spirituality, living comfortably or work life balance – i am just talking about “Staying Alive”.
A couple of months ago, an acquaintance R was driving on the Munirka flyover in Delhi. A car behind him wanted to go ahead and R being a fairly aggressive driver himself (i am guessing) didn’t let the car overtake him. Post the flyover, when he did – the occupants of the other car got out of the car, stopped R and beat him up with an iron rod! Thankfully someone saw him and took him to a nearby hospital. The doctor pretty much said that if they had arrived later, he would have died or at least lost use of his leg. The poor man is now recovering from multiple surgeries and pretty much learning to walk again.
And for what?..Just coz a jackass thought his time was as precious as a person’s ability to walk or live!
Look at nooriya haveliwala and more recently Sushil Kotari. No – they didn’t intend to kill…but they did choose to be irresponsible. I do feel bad for them cause a lapse of judgement has caused them many years of dealing with the judicial system and a lifetime of guilt for snuffing out the life of a person. I dont even want to start thinking of the family they have cheated a loved one of. The pain and the “Why us” …
Most of us view the drinking and driving campaign as how to escape being caught. It’s thursday – they only check on weekends,they dont check on this road and promptly a person maybe “just a couple of pegs” gets behind the wheel. I hope the couple of pegs are worth the lifetime of guilt you might have to live with.
This careless attitude towards life scares me. There are times when i am driving and a two wheeler is acting all “Oh look at me” on and generally being a nuisance on the road and i think – he deserves to be knocked down…Does he now really?? Just for being an idiot should he be paralysed for life or worse?
I wonder if video games and all these X boxes games which are constantly about knocking things down or killing things are responsible for road rage and this urge to knock people down.
You hear of people being killed for some jewellery, inter-caste marriages or some other equally inane reason…Dont we get it …the person will die …his family will never see him again. And if u are someone who can’t think beyond your own nose…Think of yourself – there is a probability of being caught…and if u aren’t the fear of being caught will remain with u and if nothing else there will be some nights when u can’t sleep cause you have killed a human…a person for whom there is someone somewhere else who is unable to sleep coz they miss them.
Nuttie Natters 
1st ?
how true…staying alive is a struggle !
The incidence which took place with R is so saddening…out of imagination !
The crux we’re not safe anywhere,sigh !
yes and i am not even venturing onto idiots who rape …this is just driving…!
Yeshh uyesh…the scribbler scribbles fast! Now go read…shoo
Second 😀
Iron rod really? That is so sad :(.. I agree about these video games and Xbox – all mostly centred towards killing or violence, is that what we want to teach kids? Should it really be fun to knock down a vehicle or worse, kill people, even if it is a game?
and if u are a gaming junkie…i think there are times u loose the distinction between real life and the gaming life
😀
That was a shocking piece of information for me 😦
hitting someone so violently just cause he didn’t let you overtake 😯 😯
I can’t even come to imagine where this world is heading to with people of this kind of attitude.
I am not sure whom to blame for the increasing rage amongst drivers and people in general, but yeah the whole scenario comes down to our day-to day struggles in trying to stay alive 😦
true CB…we are so centred around “I me myself” – we sometimes forget that 5 mins longer on the road doesn’t really matter in the larger scheme of things…just like not drinking 1 night or taking a cab to a party is such a small price to pay for another’s life.
Yeah! You have some very valid points. The value of life is almost zero, considering it depends mostly on the temperament of those who you deal with in a day. It could be angry autowallas, angry by passengers, angry people on the road, angry shopkeepers!
And I completely agree that video games are bad influence, especially when it comes to speed and killing!
and so sad na…that we never think of the implications of anger
time sari illa kaNree!
true chinki….so sad maadi *just needed to use maadi* 😀
That was a very pertinent post. You would have also seen those who drive with their mobiles clutched between their ears and shoulder, while they drive with their head tilted and only half aware of what is happening around them — and this is not the car drivers, but two-wheeler ones.
Tolerance levels are dropping alarmingly and this is the cause for road rage. That and ego — of not being able to stand and be overtaken by another. What morons!
Yes —we seem to not even value our own life…the conversation on the phone seems so much more important…i do it too 😦
This is so so sad. I hope R recovers soon.
i hear he is better 🙂
Beating up someone with an iron rod?????????? Totally sad. Hope he is feeling better. Really the road rage scares me.
Video games do play an important part in all this. I also feel that in this technology improved world, everything happens this instant. People are losing the ability to wait for 5 min. Nobody seems to care about the larger scheme of things. If they think reaching home 5 min late is better than not reaching home at all, then things would probably start to improve.
True TM…we are loosing perspective on the more imp things in life
Very true. I dont know why/how anyone would have the heart to KILL someone! I think it takes a lot of guts and courage and the xbox, video games are definitely a means to achieve it I’m guessing.
yes SnS…we live in strange times
GOD!!!
That’s shocking!! 😯
Get well soon R!
thanks Chic!
Those goons did that!?
What has this world come to!
Sometimes I wonder – what is it that our roads lack, traffic discipline or the right attitude? And how can one be corrected without correcting the other? Where do we even begin?
i thnk it’s the attitude and the way we go about life…run run run!
So scary! 😦 Wow, for not letting him overtake really?
Hmm, about games and stuff I am not too sure, I really doubt if violent games in moderation make a person violent in real life, you’ve got to be having more serious issues if that is happening!
what i mean abt video games is that u see nuthing wrong in say speeding….not that they teach u to be violent..not able to articulate it well though
OMG! That is so scary!! I hope your friend R is getting better… what a sad sad thing to happen!
yes i hear he is betterl…yes but really sad and pointless too
hi, commenting on your blog after a while.
I live in bangalore and drive frequently. there are times when i do feel similarly, but then i control myself and tell myself that i will forget about these nuisance or errant drivers ten minutes later or that they don’t know better or most importantly, life and time of people are far more precious than road rage.
i believe in today’s world, we are being desensitize daily not just through video games, but through newspapers reports, TV news and “breaking news” and many other such media exposure where destruction and death are almost routine. Secondly, in a world today, where everyone seems to be running all the time, staying behind is like a stigma to many people.
it is sad what has happened to your friend and i wish him fast recovery and safer driving.
True sharbori…all the points u make are bang on, reasons for such de-sensitised towards the importance of life
Baaprey, so scary – iron rod and all….how do some people absolutely care zilch about someone else’s life! and can still sleep at night peacefully….
God knows…we seem to be becoming “soul-less” dont we. Hope u are doing well Sonia…!
That sounds scary. I have heard of couple of incidents to. And its not just road, even when boarding a train or crossing at a train station. Atleast these people bring it on themselves.
Very true Nuttie. We no longer think a soul is valuable. In our discussions yesterday a friend mentioned how it used to be in his childhood days when murder was something terrible that everybody talked about it. and he also said, now its very common. we dont even pay attention as much as earlier.
Changing times…for bad
i had the same thought…as a kid even a person dying from something like a heart attack or drowning was shockin…now it’s like …oh thank god only 13 died in the bomb blast,,,,
god! what kind of rage is that?! Found myself nodding throughout the post 🙂
that smiley was meant to be this : 😦
Mad Mad ppl’s rage!
read the post today, again. very well said nuttie.
thank u my dear 😀
Road rage is very dangerous and any kind of rage for that matter. People are losing compassion and kindness. How can we be selfish and apathetic towards our fellow beings? Video games mangle our emotions. We should shun them.
very true ajay…u think we are loosing our ability to be “human” mayb