(4 Nov ’12)
A thirty-year-old in our village died of head
injuries. He was trying to overtake a vehicle when banged into a truck coming
in the other direction. Unfairly, the driver of the truck has been arrested.
This man’s motorcycle was just a few days old, one of those expensive, fast
machines. No one taught him the basics of driving: you have to be in control of
the vehicle, not the other way around, no matter how fast the vehicle is capable of going. Just because it can
touch 150 kmph doesn’t mean you have to force it to. Not on our roads, not with
our traffic. Unfortunately, it’s too late to tell him that. It’s also too late
to tell him that the helmet is not meant to be worn on the wrist. This must be
the only place in the world where two-wheeler drivers wear their headgear on
their hands. I’ve seen this many times, even in front of uniformed cops, at
signals. It would be funny if so many hadn’t died because of it. Our village
mate was taken to the crematorium with half his face smashed. Couldn’t help
feeling indignant that this was not nasheeb,
this was a preventable fatality.
At Porvorim circle, many afternoons,
there’s a traffic jam. One day, one lanky self-appointed do-gooder shouted into
the phone, quite obviously speaking to some senior cop, about how everything
had come to a standstill because there was no cop to guide the cars. A single
cop has never been able to manage any junction in Goa. The drivers haven’t
heard of patience. They creep slowly onto the road so that oncoming cars are
blocked. Or they reverse where they
shouldn’t because they’ve parked wrongly (oh yes, even at corners, so that everybody’s inconvenienced). It’s fun watching
people do the wrong things. One day I’m going to film them, making sure their
number-plates are clearly noticeable. Don’t know whether that’ll make any
difference, but the cops can raise funds for their annual function through
fines, if they’re allowed to use such films as evidence. Like when people overtake stationary vehicles
that are stationary because something’s block. The overtaker gets to the right
side of the road (wrong side to be in) and blocks the other side too. If it’s a
Goa number-plate, all is forgiven. If it’s an outside number-plate, a quarrel
ensues and some time is wasted before everyone adjusts. We’re no different from
the rest of India.
We had to cut two old wild trees in
our plot even though it broke our hearts. Last year, one huge bough narrowly
missed squashing our hut, warning us of what might happen if we don’t trim it.
Trimming such large trees regularly is difficult because every time one has to
take permission from the Forest Department and then one doesn’t get the labour
for the job. The neighbours had been telling us for years and years that
because of those two, the fruit trees weren’t fruiting, the flowering shrubs
weren’t flourishing, indeed, nothing grew in their shadow. Their roots were
eating into the well and were likely to destroy our hut, too, eventually. The
neighbours were having a difficult time, too, apprehensive about something suddenly falling on them. We have planted far
too many trees in our little compound. Less sunlight, less space… reminds me of
our country… overcrowded and underproductive.
Now, the villagers say, the gloom is gone and the sun and water will
work its magic and trees that we’d planted some fifteen years ago will finally
get a chance to grow. Interesting
explanation they gave: they said our trees were afraid of (bhiyetaat) the jungle ones. More interestingly, within days of
being exposed to the open sky, they really have begun to look healthier and
happier. I learn much from these sons of
the soil.
The Season has begun. In Kashmir,
Ooty, Rajasthan, and places in the world where local people depend on outsiders
to buy their rooms, services, handicraft, food, there is a dramatic change in
people and habitats before the ‘guests’ arrive. White-washing , roofs being
repaired, linen being bought or laundered, and (in Goa) canoes, beach-beds and
swimming gear being checked out are common sights. I have a problem with
tourists who don’t listen to the life-guards where the sea is unforgiving. I don’t
see why we shouldn’t penalize them heavily for disobeying the safety code.
Those who Nature doesn’t kill and are saved by the life-guards should be made
to pay… and be enrolled in compulsory swimming lessons.
Which gives me an idea: those caught
not wearing helmets should be made to do voluntary work for a specified time
for neuro-patients who are being treated for or have had a disability following
a bad head injury due to a road-accident.
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