Random musings

Here's wishing all of you a happy Ram Navami, Poila Baishak, Tamil,Punjabi New year and wonderful days ahead for every good reason one can think of. The last two months haven't been good with my sister in law falling sick and my colleague and friend's husband being victim of rash driving and finally succumbing to his head injury despite the best efforts of his treating doctors.

Jamshedpur being a small town it was wonderful to see so many joining the family in their moment of grief with each one treating his death as a personal loss. It is quite another thing that Dr. N....., fondly referred to as 'doctor sahib' has been good to everyone around him and if the family knew 25% of his good deeds the remaining 75% was revealed when he was in a coma in CCU. Strangers walked up to his wife and recounted the manner in which they were helped by him. Among them were rickshaw pullers, washermen, teastall owners and so many others from the lower rungs of society for whom he had a kind word and pleasant smile. He never charged them for treatment and they considered him an incarnation of God.A power cut in their neighborhood? Water scarcity in the medical college hostel? Mess food not being relished by the students? Our doctor sahib was there to tackle the problem.The list is endless.My faith in the prevalence and dominance of good over evil is reinforced and death being the only certainity in the world each one of us should try to rise above trivial matters since we cannot take with us anything more valuable than the good will of people nor can we leave behind anything worthier than pleasant memories of kindness and compassion shown during our lifetime.

While I feel lousy about doctor sahib's death and how upsetting it is going to be for his wife and family to cope with the loss I am equally annoyed with the manner in which our youngsters drive - particularly those who drive high speed motorcycles.

Young man in a hurry, did you for a moment realize what you have done due to your reckless driving? The doctor was returning from his morning walk happily chatting with his friends. It was a routine that he followed religiously and encouraged in his patients including me. It was only 06:15 in the morning and ours is a sleepy town. You banged into a second motorcyclist and he dashed into an unsuspecting victim. Eye witnesses claim that it took you a second to escape but you've caused the death of a man so useful to society depriving his wife of the many years of togetherness that they might have shared.

Parents of teenagers why are you in a hurry to buy that brat of yours a motorized vehicle? Can you not wait till he becomes responsible enough to handle the pressure of safe driving? Why do you let him drive a geared vehicle even if it means that his licence had to be obtained by greasing palms and he thinks that the hero in the Hindi movie that he watched actually performs the stunts when they are nothing but camera tricks.

Finally civil servants who issue licences, policemen who ought to keep a check on these teenagers as well as people like you and me who are silent spectators are all responsible for every life that is lost in this manner. It is easy to say that it was his destiny. Was it? Will this explanation satisfy his children who would have wanted him to see them reach for the skies?

I am sorry if I have put you off. My sister in law is improving and I thank each of you for including her in you prayers. I was hoping to be able to say the same about doctor sahib. Unfortunately the injury was massive and nothing could be done. Be careful each one of you I want all of you in tact. Whether behind the steering or before it there is truth in what my husband says - "Never mind what the other person does. It is your duty to watch out." Take care and God bless you all.