Blog@GraceJunction

The TOI today is flooded with the news of a DPS school bus that overturned yesterday on it way to school. Little Akul Rathod, a really cute 9 year old student of standard IV, was killed in this freak accident, and he had no scope of survival because, his head got trapped between the bus and the road divider and his skull got crushed.

It pains me to even write about it, and I cannot even imagine the deep scar this event will cause in the mind of his parents. And this wound will never heal. They will have to nurse it as long as they live.

Ashok Patel, the driver of the ill-fated bus was overspeeding it seems. He jumped a divider and rushed past a truck to beat him to the junction. He overtook from the right when he actually needed to turn to the left! The trucker was not very happy it seems. He gave a slight nudge to our ‘Ayrton Senna’ before he speeded away to his destination, leaving the school bus to a cruel destiny. The bus it seems, turned turtle twice and in the process threw Akul out of the window pane, only to crush him later.

Our bridgade of journalists spread all over that locale, interviewing every parent and student they could catch up. For them this was an event that would sell! They even have published the musts for a School Bus as ordered by the Supreme Court. Speed governors, labels, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, locks, grills and all. Too late for Akul, but perhaps a help for the remnant.

Accidents will happen. The way the traffic is increasing, and the way people are accumulating road rage, the way the people are given licenses, accidents will surely happen. They are waiting to happen.

You come out on the streets and you wonder how the acrobatic rickshaw driver with his leg out of his rickshaw and how the hooded young girl who for once hides more than she reveals (her identity and license too) and how the old man  in his ‘fiat’ overtaken by the bi-cyclists and how the smartest biker on the road who is looking not at the signal but scouting for cops, got their licenses! If you can afford it, you don’t even have to go to the RTO to get a license. Sleuths and agents will manage it for you. The rush is so much and the staff is so limited, that everyone can’t be tested for his driving or non-driving skills! They don’t even see whether you are aware of basic driving courtesies, forget about rules, and whether you understand the road language (signages).

When I was younger, I was determined on winning every race that happened on my way to work. I knew that there was an ‘Ayrton Senna’ in me too. He only got the opportunities, while I got Ahmedabad! I would win every race and only a very few managed to humiliate me. But off late, I let people win. I reemember my two daughters at home, and let them win. They need me, not my victory!

I see atleast two accidents on any given day, on my way to work and I suppose lately, it has become three! I drive on a very risky assumption that all drivers driving in front of me, and coming from the opposite side, and behind me, all are experts, who are in full knowledge of their vehicle and full control of it, whatever happens enroute. I also assume that they will apply brakes on time and will never fall. I also assume that the men standing to cross the road will not jump on to the road when my vehicle reaches there. Actually, so many assumptions! And when they fall flat, accidents happen. And off late, this assumptions have got tuned to the falling mode.

Isn’t our life road similar to the road life?

Who cares for licenses? Who cares for rules? Who wants to lose? Who thinks of the dangers of the fast life? We run our life on assumptions and not rules. We scramble through our days, but we think about years. We actually barely make it home, but we never acknowledge or realise it. Accidents always happen to others. They are careless and ill-destined. We are created to live for a 100 years!!

Who knows, one of these days, you and I will leave home for work or anywhere and never return home!

What an article to read early on Thursday morning, one of the busiest days of the week! 

It doesn’t matter when you have to read it. It’s important to sit back and consider this fleeting life. One second here, the next gone.

The school buses may still manage to come back to the rule books, but who will put speed governors on every bike and car on the road? Who will grill your helmet? Who will label the rickshaws? Who will slow the truck driver? Can we be sure that our skulls will never be crushed?

Thank God, on the Life-road, pretty more decisions are still in your hands than when you are on the roads, in the traffic. Sit back and organize your gear shifts. Draw your speed limits and specify your braking points. Ensure, who is at the wheel. My life is driven per the guidelines set by the largest seller, the Bible, and Christ himself is at the wheel.

Our sincere condolences to the grieving family of Ramdas and Ritu Rathod. No words will help. None. May God alone comfort them.   

Tags: accident, Akul, assumptions, ayrton senna, Bible, Brakes, careless, Christ, Delhi Public School, DPS, driver, driving, Gear, journalists, license, life road, over speeding, race, Relax, rickshaw, road life, rules, school bus, sensation, signs, skull, thursday, traffic

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 9:07 am and is filed under Accidents, Articles, Geo, Purpose of Life, Society, Stress, Troubles & Problems, Youth Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.