Cyrus, Mete & still Counting!

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“Some of us would take our time, if we knew that we are rushing to our deaths.” … Mokokoma Mokhonoana

"American roads are not good because America is rich, but America is rich because American roads are good..." John F Kennedy

First quote is by Mokokoma who studies human beings, and after some of his observations, he either writes or draws. He shares his observations through aphorisms, essays, books, and cartoons. He strives to make people think; sometimes, that leaves them laughing. His work is an attempt to link our beliefs, actions, institutions, ignorance, and arrogance, with human suffering. Second quote is by America’s most loved President Mr. Kennedy & though the first quotes speak about accident & death while the second quote speaks about roads, yet we all know how these three things are closely related in our country, right? As you must have guessed from the quotes the subject of my sharing yet let me tell you, “IT IS Not ABOUT IMPORTANCE OF WEARING SEAT BELTS ON REAR SEAT OR ANY SEAT WHILE DRIVING” as enough bombarding has been done to all of you from every possible media about the seat belt. It’s not just about seat belt wearing importance which has taken away life of not just some Cyrus Mystery or Vinayak Mete (Political Leader) in very recent but of many celebrities which has died in the accidents on Indian roads including Dr Khurjekar (Spine Surgeon) as well Bhakti Barve (Marathi Actress) & thousands of unknown -known faces around us & we haven’t learnt anything from it so I am not going to write about seat belts but as Mokokhoma has said about our attitude of rushing toward our death, especially on roads while travelling!

First & foremost (sorry for the figures) every year nearly 1,50,000 humans die in road accidents & equal or more numbers get injured for life, in this country& the numbers are growing by every passing year & nearly 70% of them are on highways or roads connecting to the cities. This is sheer because you can’t speed up on the city roads or else the figures would have doubled for sure! Seat belt or not is not the issue, as take example of the recent deaths, Vinayak Mete’s SUV (For Endeavour, I presume) who is a political leader met with accident on Mumbai Pune expressway at early hours of morning & he has started from his home town at late night. No special committee is required what must have happened as at that hour of night (or day) the driver must have dozed of & at 140 km/hr, a fraction of the second is enough to make you a fatal judgement of error which the driver did! “Najar Hati Durghatana Ghati”, i.e., if your eyes divert from the road ahead while driving you meet with accident, a slogan which most of us have grownup reading on highways & on the rear side of trucks we overtake yet we hardly pay any attention, at least Mr Mete & his driver hasn’t, for sure!

Now about Mr Cyrus’s accident, the guy owns Jet Plane & a Helicopter & can hire one at any time at his will yet he chose to travel by road. His vehicle was a GLC Merc which is considered as the safest car on the roads & he met with his accident at noon 3.30 pm which is the least traffic time on any Indian road but! But his car was being driven by not a professional driver but his own family friend Mrs Aneetha who is fifty-five-year-old & a doctor by profession. No, I am not blaming her as woman for her driving skills rather many women I know drive far better than men (at least than me for sure) what I am pointing at is, Mr Mystery’s Merc was said to be travelling at same speed as Mr Mete’s car i.e., at 135 km/ hr & at that speed to manoeuvre the car in the emergency isn’t a thing which some amateur driver can do which Doc Aneetha was, is my point. It’s said that Mr Cyrus’s Merc collided with a bridge divider as at that spot suddenly three laned highway becomes two laned because of the narrow width of the bridge & at that speed Doc Aneetha must not have been able to keep her car in right lane & collided with the bridge railing, is logic behind the accident in this case. “Najar Nahi Hati Firbhi Durghatana Ghati’ i.e., the eyes of the driver were on the road but the body couldn’t follow the command of the brain in the right time to react to what the eyes have seen & accident happened!

So, in both the cases the seat belt factor comes later, as had some basics of driving (rather travelling) would have been looked after by all the people involved in the respective accidents, which includes the govt also, the need of the seat belt itself wouldn’t have arisen in the first place is my point of sharing! This doesn’t mean seat belts are not necessary but this means seat belts are like CCTV in the home, they are good to dictate robbery or theft but what should be done to avoid the theft in the first place that matters more for e.g., a watchman in place of not letting the home empty or a dog or an alarm anything, this is my point of sharing!  Now about preventive measures, well if you are expecting the govt will do everything for you then you are a big fool or a blind-believer of miracles & I am not both! As usual post this accident, there was flood of the posts on Insta, FB, WhatsApp, Newspapers & memes also about set belts but all these people by themselves must be driving a two-wheeler without headgear or helmet & laughs at the rear seat passenger wearing seat belt or argue with traffic police who fines them for not wearing a seat belt while driving, this also do consider while you read such posts!

The country where people are needed to warn about for not spitting on roads or public area or has to be fined for not wearing masks when pandemic is not over yet, where people make processions against helmet wearing law, how do you expect the govt will be perfect in doing its job for ensuring road safety of the travellers, is my point of sharing!  First of all, why even the wealthiest personalities have to use private vehicles rather than relying on public transport, the govt has to answer this question. Because in cities like London or New York even billionaires travel by Metro or Cab or take flight to their out-station destinations but on all these fronts our public transport system is pathetic along with service & maintenance is a fact! Apart from cost involved, the timings of the flights keep shuffling as per whims of air companies, making your schedule go for a toss, is one main reason of wealthy men preferring personal cars even for outstation trips & then connectivity is an issue too. Speaking about railways, barring Rajdhani Express series trains is not convenient as their tickets are never available is another aspect of that travel. What govt is going to do about this aspect, is my point of sharing! And about road travels lesser we speak about road conditions its better is the scene as in this country on expressway trucks can come in wrong lane, domestic animals can cross the expressway at their speed & will only aeroplane doesn’t land on the roads is good thing so, the merging lanes is way down on the list of reasons of road accidents!

Here, I will share my personal experience of road travel (there are many actually), I was travelling to Ranthambore in a hired Innova on Delhi-Agra expressway & the car was at 120 km/ hr. I warned the driver not to speed above 90 km/ hr as I don’t have to catch any flight i.e., we are not in hurry or else I will make you get down from the car & I will drive! The driver gave me a nasty look but obeyed & slowed down to 80 km/ hr (even below what I asked for), as I was the one who was paying & just few meters after that a pack of Monkeys came running from other lane & jumped from right in front of our Innova to cross the road, the driver exclaimed, “Oh Terri” & somehow avoided colliding with the monkeys as well as the speed was 80km/ hr the car still maintained on its course! He sheepishly looked at me in the rear mirror, I just returned his gaze, he has understood, I hope so! Well, in this incident we were lucky not to have another Shoemaker driving behind us or else he would have collided with us from behind & here is where the rear seat’s safety belts would have come in picture, which I was wearing btw! I have been laughed (read as, criticized) by my fellow passengers for constantly telling driver not to speed-up, for my fussiness about wearing seat belt all the time & for not accepting early morning start of travels or post mid night travels on road, but then today people laugh at someone for wearing mask also, that’s ok, your choice! And even after taking all this care an accident can happen & you can die but that will be sheer an accident is, you don’t rush towards your death as Mokokoma has said in his quote!

Lastly, had Mr John Kennedy been alive I would have told him, Sir, America has not only built good roads it has taught its citizens good habits also for driving & that is the reason America is a rich country as in USA, the rich can remain alive too, post becoming rich!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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