Over at Bangalore and Bangaloreans Ravi has been writing about how he got a BPO driver suspended for rash driving. He has been facing a lot of flak from people over this. The usual argument is that a call center driver drives rashly because of the work pressure, or pressure from the admin people/travel agents. Like I said before in Traffic problems are everybody's problems, this is not a very concrete argument for the reasons I have summarized in that post.
If you belong to that misguided camp, here's my take on it: Offer constructive suggestions, instead of your negativism. We don't need it, we have enough of our own. Ravi is spending his personal time and doing a bit to make the city safer, and you guys are busy discouraging him and making the usual disparaging remarks. If you are so concerned about the driver losing his job, go do your bit in whatever way you can to prevent rash driving on B'lore roads, instead of whining about what someone else did. If you lead by example rather than vacuous talk, people like Ravi will surely follow.
And here's the bottomline: Its very easy for you to preach today. Heaven forbid that tomorrow one of these taxis should ram your vehicle, injure or kill your wife or children or you. Then we will see where all this generosity and misplaced magnanimity towards the driver goes. Then you will be frantically calling up the police, your "connections" and who-have-we to get the driver punished to the greatest extent possible. Lets see how generous you are then to say "poor guy, he was driven to rash driving because of the admin people or the travel agent, lets go after them instead". Ha ha ha.
10 comments:
Well said, man, well said!
None of these guys do anything to make the situation better but instead, put down people who actually take an effort to curb these things.. The same ol' crab story theory, I guess.
But let none of these comments deter us from doing what we feel is right.
I should make it a point to take my camera along everyday. Just today, I saw a Wipro bus parked on the main road, near the Silk Board flyover. I should've taken down the license plate number but I just couldn't due to the sheer traffic (I ride a bike and it's kinda difficult to note down stuff in writing). But I'm on it... I will fight till the end, and will do my part in making this city safe.
Thanks for inspiring me!
@nisho: Even I keep thinking that I should carry my camera everyday. On the way to EC, it really pains me to see the way the buses just stop halfway in the middle of the road to pick up passengers and cause huge jams.
Hi Hawkeye,
I stumbled upon your blog today, & its amazing & inspiring to see you take up your rights.
I'll try & make more people aware of these rights, & take them up myself, & maybe one day, we'll all be empowered, & fair :)
I threatened a guy with the same MRP legal implications, to have him tell me, that I could go & buy it elsewhere if I wanted to. Since it was a remote area, all these guys formed a cartel charging 5 rupees extra for everything!
I didnt take it up then, maybe I should have.
It must be really exasperating to fight against all these anonymous comments, who miss the point entirely! Who will call you a whiner, but not hesitate to get down to crass behaviour if it happens to them.
Kudos to you.
Aparna
On a different note... can we do something abt the mindless and inhuman culling of all stary dogs in Bangalore?
Keep it up guys!! Great to see some passion on making the city a safer place
Hi Hawkeye,
Very inspiring initiative, hope those who criticize you understand how stupid they sound. Trying to justify not speaking out, by saying the poor guy deserves more. Charity & cheating are two completely different things, & "chalta hai" is highly irritating.
I want to ask you regarding the rigging of Auto meters. I live in Pune, & we dont have electronic metres here. Sometime back, I saw very clearly that the metre was changing too fast. I told the Auto driver so, he tried convincing me with some hogwash, but I knew that it was wrong.
I had no option, I just asked him to stop, got off there, & paid him his due.He went off smiling happily.
What could I have done to check that?
Thanks.
Aparna
@Aparna: Thanks! Please don't let these guys overcharge you. I know its not easy to go against the traders, but we must. Complain to the Dept of Legal Metrology and/or the Consumer Court. My wife and I are spending quite a bit of our time on this stuff, and it would be wonderful if more people follow.
@Sushruta: I'm not sure I agree with you. I'm an animal lover, but I think at this point dogs have turned into a menace. The NGOs have been given ample time and a free hand and they have done nothing at all. Imagine the plight of the families who have lost children to the dogs. God knows how many unpublicized cases are there. Stories abound of people being afraid to go home late at night because of dogs roaming in packs, dog bites and rabies, dogs chasing two wheelers, etc.
@Aparna: Yeah, I don't understand why its so hard for people to distinguish between charity and cheating. For some, its a case of misplaced charity. Instead of giving money to charity, NGOs, orphanages, etc, people would rather give the retailer, trader, auto driver a few rupees more. I don't understand the logic.
Regarding the rigging, did you see my earlier post on http://theeverydayblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/do-autoricks-in-blore-get-your-gall.html? I'm also posting some updates on that topic, so please check back here now and then.
I understand your concern. You agree that it is the govt, Ngos and we as people have failed. Wiping out the entire poulation is not an answer. It is inhuman and indiscrimintae. There has to be a method.
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