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….
Nicely written Sachin.... Humanity where are u is the question which keeps coming to my mind ....Need to bring out more of such topics....Keep sharing..
ReplyDeleteThank You Archana, shall surely keep sharing more...
DeleteSachin, the question here is - Is it just the Crane driver who is the culprit ? Or does it also include the contractor who builds roads which are death traps for the 2-wheelers, or the Municipal Corporation Engineer who oversees this work and allows the shoddy work or the politician who is supposed to be working for the poor but works only for the one poor - That is himself and becomes millionaire doing only the social work. This is indeed sad. :( Very nicely written blog. Hope at least some people get impacted by this.
ReplyDeleteThanks KT, the responsible authorities need to be brought to justice.
DeleteSo true. We are all a bunch of social networking idiots. Humanity is only in books and grandpa stories. We as a human race are discovering new ways to stoop Lower than our earlier level.
ReplyDeleteIf the blog is a wake up call, this reply is the alarm.
DeleteTrue Sneha, we adopt the most convenient mode of protesting and that's on social networking sites.
DeleteNicely quoted Sachin...however my thoughts are different than what has been happened and what could be...It’s not about humanity everyone wish to do something for the society however they are unaware of what action need to be taken.
ReplyDeleteFew thoughts which comes up...
1. Most of the times people are scared if I do something and if things go wrong?
2. Many times we all don’t know what we need to do
3. Is it my duty? Bcoz we have been brought up of being cautious of such incidents and not to get involve in such activity as their are other trained officers like fire brigade, policemen stationed around to actioned such incidents
4. We are genuinely busy to ignore this
I think we need to sensitize our society, workplace and our groups with such incidents and also help them knowing about minimal rescue parameters to take the action..
If we can propose our society secretary/ HR personal to do such activities in our respective organisations will help another Shilpa to Survive..
We can connect to NGO’s who provides such trainings in organisations and societies.
Sharing my learning’s from NCC & NSS Training
We have done this exercise in our college and workplace. If you wish to do this exercise please feel free to connect.
Thanks Kavita for been so elaborate in presenting your thoughts it really means a lot.
DeleteSo true..very well written Sachin.
ReplyDeleteGuess the inner feeling to help someone has vanished..like u said ..correctly moved on.
Hope people wake up..one day soon and realise
Thanks Jagruti. Hope people resort to fighting than to resort to the convenient way of giving up.
DeleteSo true..very well written Sachin.
ReplyDeleteGuess the inner feeling to help someone has vanished..like u said ..correctly moved on.
Hope people wake up..one day soon and realise
Hand Sanitizer Era! Well written Sachin!
ReplyDeleteMay be I am one of them..will try and change that!
Habeeb, it would be actually be accomplishing if we all own it up and lead it to logical conclusion instead of washing off our hands. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteEven if the situation around us is unclean our endeavour is to keep our hands clean n sanatized 👌
ReplyDeleteThanks Minal
DeleteYou have written very well Sachin, highlighting exactly the points which are missing in majority today.
ReplyDeleteI have often quipped the same myself. My friend once narrated an incident which he witnessed on a street of Shanghai. A bike accident where the rider fell and was badly hurt. Soon a crowd of people started taking pictures and filming this chap. Police officer came and asked the rider who was in lot of pain some questions and started taking pictures. Finally he dialed in for an ambulance and back ups. While others just dispersed from there. All at the same time were surely updating their status about the accident in their social media groups I am sure.
People move on really fast just like the Fast-track AD which provides examples of how fast you can move on in life. Another possibility could be that between China and India I feel is we are over populated perhaps that adds further to the reason that Human or any other life (ofcourse politically a cows life is very important) is not that important.
But I agree with a reader (Kavita) above that sensitising people or children is important when such sensitivity is missing. What immediate steps should one take if someone or they themselves are in emergency situations.if you do come across such Training do let me know too.
Keep up the good work and would look forward to many such posts.
Thanks Nivi, indeed we move really fast...Yes I endorse Kavita's thought process as well..
DeleteThis happens everywhere. There are many incidents here to where people are getting hurt, shot, beat up, etc in public and bystanders are hesitant to lend a helping hand. I doubt they are afraid: They just don't want to get involved and be held responsible for anything. Here in the US, I have noticed that when things happen, the first thing instead of reaching out to help, people go for their cellphones and start taking selfies, photos and videos of the incident. Pathetic is the right word. What if it was them? In this world of Instagram, SnapChat, FB etc, people want to be part of the incident from a distance but be praised or liked for their posts.
ReplyDeleteBut I want to add that not all are like the above. There are several good Samaritans who do lend a hand, get in the way of harm to help others. Maybe they are a nurse, police, firefighter, etc its in their nature, or just someone who has a heart for other humans in trouble. There are many instances where people have taken the bullet for some random stranger when they didn't have to. Every person has free will to do either the right thing or the wrong thing or to completely ignore it. It's sad the kind of selfish world we live in. There many Shilpa's out there and no one helped.
We don't all have to say sorry to the next Shilpa.