Sorry Shilpa, I had to reach home early hence couldn’t wait.
Sorry Shilpa, a friend of mine was waiting at a coffee shop
for me hence couldn’t wait.
Sorry Shilpa, I had to complete my Diwali shopping, hence
didn’t wait.
Sorry Shilpa, I hate getting tangled into legal processes
hence didn’t wait.
Sorry Shilpa, I was too tired and just wanted to go home and
crash hence didn’t wait.
And many more Sorry and reasons.
For all those who would be wondering who Shilpa is, she was a
34 year old married woman from Kharghar. On 14th Oct, while
returning from work on her bike, due to uneven road level she lost her balance
and came under a crane. She died on the spot. The video of the incident went
viral on social media and again the big talk started on the sad state of affair
of the roads and how the contractors compromise on work quality. Hell broke
loose on the police and local authority as they started searching for the crane
operator and the contractor who was getting the work done.
When I was watching the video, the disturbing part wasn’t the
state of roads neither the crane operator, the saddest part were the passer-by.
The so-called citizens of our country were just looking at a lady fallen and
the so-called responsible citizens were just passing by. Dozens of vehicles
passed by but no one stopped. People just moved on.
Giving due respect to the local residents who raised their
voice against local authorities, what disappointed me the most were the
passer-by. How could someone just pass by a person who is lying in a pool of blood?
Was there something more important to the passer-by than a person lying
unattended on the road side? Were they really scared of getting interrogated by
police in case they are standing at the accident spot? Were they feeling that
if they try to check on the lady their own clothes may have blood stains, maybe
their hand would have blood. Why didn’t anyone run behind the crane operator to
catch hold of him? Many more questions keep doing rounds in my mind. It made me
feel that God forbid if I would be lying there on the road side injured would
anyone even bother to attend me or would just wait for police to come and do their
job.
Not that we have grown insensitive toward others but the most
recent problem the urban class facing is that we have learned to Move On. We
have forgotten the art of putting up a good fight. Under the influence of few
strong words such as Understanding, Maturity, Individuality, Tolerance, Foresightedness,
Obligations, Logics etc. we choose to move on rather than waiting back to deal
with the situation.
14th Oct 6.20pm was a moment of truth for the
dozens of passer-by but they miserably failed because they chose to move on
instead of waiting back next to her. Urbanism hasn’t only taught us to move on
but also wash off our hands. We are living in an era of hand sanitizers where
we don’t only wash off our hands but use sanitizers as well. Even if the
situation around us is unclean our endeavour is to ensure our hands are always
clean and sanitized.
We have forgotten the art of making our hands dirty to clean
up the situation instead our focus only remains in ensuring that our hands are
clean even if the situation around is dirty. We use our intelligence optimally
to convince ourselves why it’s important to move on and wash-off our hands
instead of waiting back, making hands dirty and dealing with the situation. Guess
now, people feel courageous by staying away from situations and avoiding it.
Sorry Shilpa, we couldn’t
attend you when your bike skid and you came under the crane, but you know what,
we had a candle march to protest against the bad road condition. We are
genuinely feeling bad for your spouse and kids and we assure you that whatever
amount of likes, protests and signature campaigns that are needed on social
media against this we are all there to support. The police have already
arrested the crane operator and recently even the road contractor has got
arrested. Apologies for giving you all these updates a bit late, but hope you
understand that we had Diwali at our home and there was too much of work to be
done and after Diwali we headed for a short family vacation and have just
returned.
Sorry Shilpa! We Moved On….
