
A couple of months ago, I read a front page news story about a 20 year old boy who lost his life in a road accident. The man who was hit by him while crossing the road also underwent the same fate. This accident took place on the highway near to my locality. The point where the accident took place was famous amongst the localities for being an accident prone area. In order to avoid such severe accidents the political authorities had built a foot bridge on the highway.
So how did the accident take place?
The boy driving the bike didn’t see the man who was crossing the highway and as expected to be the speed of the bikes on a highway, he too was driving at approximately 80-90km/hour. The biker tried saving the man but he couldn’t control the speed of the bike and hit him,… further losing his control on the bike and dashing over a light pole. The biker broke his leg and his face was smashed by the impact with which he hit the pole. Traffic police were present at a distance of a km from the spot and there was a traffic police station at the same distance. The two victims were alive but in need of an emergency aid.
Now here comes the tragedy….
A cop reached the spot on his bike but he didn’t have a vehicle to carry both the wounded to the hospital.. Strange isn’t it…when you know there are two people severely injured and you need to rush them to the hospital, the cop must have got his jeep with him. Instead the cop tried stopping vehicles on the highway for help. But unfortunately the driver’s were interested in knowing only the reason and the details of the accident, than, in carrying the casualties to the hospital. As soon as they were content with the story they would drive away caring a damn about the two men struggling for life. People didn’t even care to respect the cop as an “Authority” who was doing his duty and as a matter of concern cooperate or at least respond to the terror of a cop ordering them to take the victims to the hospitals. Fearing to be involved by the police in the accident case, the drivers did not help the victims. The cop struggled for almost an hour, by which time the biker succumbed to his injuries. The other victim was still struggling for his life. Finally, a rickshaw driver agreed to carry the victim to the hospital. However, he too died due to excessive blood loss which was due to the delay in admitting him to the hospital.
Now who is supposed to be blamed here?
The cop, the biker, the man who found an easy way to cross the road instead of the foot bridge, the drivers who cared a damn about the victims or the law?
Well…I would say each is, to some extent involved in this incident. However, instead of the blame game. Let this incident be taken as an example to be learnt.
For the cops: to make things available as per the situation and not involve innocent people in the cases .
For us: to abide by the laws. i.e., to use the foot bridge rather than crossing highways and the passer-by’s to please help victims when in need. Forget laws and do remember HUMANITY...
For the authorities: to please propagate the correct laws amongst the citizens. (as the law says: people who admit accident victims in the hospital cannot be involved in the case.)
For the biker: Teenagers, if you don’t have control over your driving please do not drive fast. I understand…some people do like speed and adventure but not at the cost of other’s life. Who knows the man who lost his life might be the sole bread winner of his family.
P.S: the biker was a friend of mine and we all still feel bad, not being there to help him when he was in utmost need. Have to say…u understand the impact of such situations only when someone close to you is involved.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
realisation deems through ones experiences.....
Posted by
manzdesai
at
11:28 PM
22
comments
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Unfortunate experiences.....bitter memories.....!!!!!
As expected, the guys started off a discussion, each arguing on their bravery to molest/eve tease girls. The guys were discussing on how many gals they succeeded to molest/tease and to what extent had they tried to get physical with them. Every guy interrupted the other guy by saying…. “That’s it…that’s what you tried to do….come on…listen to my stunt and you would be flabbergasted”.
I heard many of their conversations which cannot be mentioned in details here, but believe me those incidents were really horrifying and I deeply pity the gals involved in it.
Fortunately, I didn’t face much of embarrassment after that. I couldn’t act much or react rebelliously as they were 6 of them and I was comparatively on the weaker side to revolt back or give a bashing. A single person cant teach a group of men a lesson….come on I should have been a hindi film heroine to do so!!!!! And yeah.....here i did come across guys from the lower strata of the society but well educated,sophisticated men too commit such heinous crime..class and caste doesnt play much of a part here but the psychology of men does....
But on a serious note…. As the great thinker Weber’s Verstehen approach states….analyse things from the opposite person’s point of view….I suggest all the readers (especially GUYS) to think of the above experience from the gals point of view.
We hear many cases of girls being molested at railway stations, on the roads, bus stops etc….be it a private or a public place, every girl must have experienced this, to some extent. Imagine yourself being touched awkwardly in front of several people without your own will and without the freedom or the strength to retort back as per your wishes. I mentioned freedom and strength here because I don’t mean to say girls are weak( infact I will never say that) but certain circumstances are such that the girl has to stay calm and get herself harassed. Many might say…..come on that isn’t the case….but being a girl I have come across many girls who have shared such an experience be they thin or fat/ young or old enough to rebel.
The other day I heard a programme on the radio regarding the eve teasing issue, wherein men were asked to call and give their view points on the same (amazing concept here-guys being asked to participate on such a topic). One of the callers who was a frequent traveller on the Mumbai locals shared his story of being molested by a gay in the train. His statement was “ after that bad experience I really started respecting girls that even after being molested they tend to forget the bygones. This incident took place months ago but I still feel uneasy when I recall the experience. The situation was such that I couldn’t do much against the molestor….."
Posted by
manzdesai
at
12:12 PM
31
comments
Saturday, March 08, 2008
SPECIAL DAYS.....WORTHLESS ACTS.....
Now that’s what every Tom,Dick and Harry and every Seeta,Geeta and Meeta whom I happened to meet on the 8th of March wished me.
And the next question to follow was how you celebrated your special day? Well, I was a bit confused or say blank about the answer. What should I answer? Should I give them those page 3 kinda answers….means...I went shopping, gossiping, partying whole day with my female pals or should I say the truth….that it was a very normal day spent doing routine day stuff. I preferred the later statement and to my obvious expectation the reaction was….Don’t tell me. You didn’t do anything special today? Come on lady….it is your day today. Get going!!!!
Well, so much of coaxing didn’t change my mind nor was I tempted to spend the remaining hours doing what I should ideally be doing according to my so called well wishers.
However, it did raise a thought in my mind about the people’s perspective about these numerous days which they keep celebrating enthusiastically.
One such day is the great controversial Valentine’s Day. Every year couples wait eagerly for this blessed day when they can express their seamless love to each other. Flowers, greetings, heart shaped balloons are visible everywhere you go. How can I forget “Red”- the colour of the day!!! (I bet the other colours would be getting jealous of Red for stealing the show. pun intended….) every other galli,nukka(here comes my hindi again….)was filled with couples with varying degrees of PDA(public display of affection) and with guys portraying every single sign of being a Romeo trying to impress some or the other Juliet. The loners are left sighing deeply for being left alone in this mean, cruel world. Infact, looking at those cozy couples must have definitely added to their depression and the want to have a partner to depend on (or should I say to show to the world that I too have a gf/bf and I too am of the Yo!!! Types..) Well, I don’t understand why do you need to anxiously, curiously wait for a single day to express your feelings when nature has provided 365 days to do so? Come on….spending thousands of bucks( surprisingly a single red rose which costs Rs.2-5/- on a normal day is sold for Rs.25-50/- on the Special occasion of LOVE) on a single day just to follow the trend is a mere waste of money, energy and your fast moving precious time. However, here the gift shop owners, flower vendors will completely resist and oppose my statement. And why won’t they? Am I not pessimistically interfering in their business? Don’t forget it’s not just the couple’s day out but their day too, when they can earn almost double or triple the amount they make the whole week.
Come on people, be rationalistic and think of expending money on something worth spending on, which will give satisfaction to both the payer as well as the receiver.
Now comes the Women’s day.. Whole day I saw a news channel broadcasting the silver screen’s saas and bahu’s showing of their revealing dresses, partying and dancing and expressing fake views on women empowerment and things they were hardly aware and concerned of. They were in such a wild mood as if it was the only day they could get to get wild. Rich women, be it from the business class or the celebrity class were felicitated for their achievements. None gave it a thought to think about the thousands of women suffering form domestic abuses, dowry abuses, eve teasing etc everyday. Why cant this day be treated a special day to make people aware of these abuses and their growing proportion. Women who have fought against such cruelty and such criminal domination in their real life without any helping hand and favorable circumstances should be awarded with. This will help creating a respectful position of women on their male counterpart leading to at least a decrease in the abuses…
Well, it ofcourse is a subjective topic but it’s an idea worth giving a thought on. So go ahead, think about it and act on it whenever possible..
Posted by
manzdesai
at
10:25 PM
13
comments
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
speeding up for nowhere......!!!!!
I was travelling from Mumbai to Pune today..and at every toll naka inspite of the single long queue of cars, I could see a bunch of cars(almost three in parallel in a lane), at the end of the naka where you pay the toll, all trying their level best to get into the line first. In this fight, which was also a ego clash between the drivers (all thinking lets see how the other gets ahead of me) honking, giving each other silly hull bajis[bambaiyya hindi ;)] became a part.. Ofcourse, the huge engines did succeed in dominating the small ones, but then the major question which came into my mind is....WHERE AND WHY ARE ALL THIS GUYS RUSHING TO? They were in such a hurry that it appeared as if; if they don't get to pass the toll naka first, the earth below would open up wide and gulp all the remaining cars[well a crazy thought sitting in the car waiting for my turn to pay the holy toll :P]
My family decided to visit a Ganesha temple on our way to Pune. As compared to the otherwise long queues on Tuesday's, we were surprised to see the short line heading towards the temple. I stood in the line and was proceeding towards the Pravesh Dwar(the door). As soon as I reached a few feet before the Dwar I saw people ahead of me charging (I should say shoving each other desperately ) all of a sudden. I looked back at my mom with confusion, asking what happend all of a sudden.[Thought may be a terrorist attack out of nowhere/ or some thief stealing something or the other from the temple ;)] But, when I looked back at them did I realise this was the hurry and strife for the darshan..:D
Well these were two instances I witnessed during the trip.
We people are always in a hurry....be it performing our regular everyday tasks, or going out for a vacation....reaching a place as early as possible(even if one is on a vacation), impatient to receive the order placed in a restaurant etc....we are always striving to be the first in doing anything..
Technology and easy/ fast service has made us lose our patience, mental stability..Urbanities are so very busy in their so called fast life that it becomes difficult to wait in a queue for our turn to come or sit back/relax and patiently wait for a service to be provided. It becomes hard to digest any obstruction or delay in achieving our goals...be it the minutest daily chores like any connection error in our mobile service to the pizza not getting delivered in half an hour;)(vague but valid examples :D)
The most popular and most influential word of the 21st century is FAST......
Posted by
manzdesai
at
4:58 AM
10
comments
Sunday, January 20, 2008
So..here I am finishing off a task my friend asked me to complete long long back......I was the first person to be tagged in his friends list...n guess and hope too, that I ain't the last to finish it off....;)
well....its a difficult task to write something about urself....when you write something about urself.....the general reaction of people who read it is.....either this chic is over-confident or under-confident of herself......isko dekh ke aisa lagta nahin that she is in reality what she has written....guess time for her to know her true self.....;)(pun intended)
well.......too much of this funda now.......time to get back to action.....
1) well.....to start off ..I am a complete foodie.I just love all kinda cuisines.....give me any dish and you will see a look of heavenly satisfaction on my face..I just lovee watching cookery shows on Tv..just admire the way the chef's cook(not look ;)), imagine the smell and the taste of the food..:)and somewhere deep in the heart, wish, if by any chance the food comes out of the TV set and I get to gobble it down....:D
Food makes me so crazy that sometimes I wish I get married to a chef..;).....
2)I don't show it much often....but I am very much possessive about my pals and loveeee them v mch......love spending time with them....any time of the day/night I would happily go and hangout with them at our favourite addas......
3)As my blogs indicate, i am a complete animal lover and have a soft/weak(wateva u say) corner for old people. Just dislike the people who misbehave with them..Plan to open up old age homes in future...n homes for the four-legged too....:D Thats my biggest dream........
4)I am a lazy person....infact to be precise....sleep for rest of the time and as the D-day arrives hurry up getting and making everyone around me tensed....I am of those wake up-at the last moment types.....Lack self motivation and hence need someone to motivate me on a regular basis....
I often end up motivating others by my hard core-reality talks .... heard from many close mates that I am a good counsellor....:D
5) Am a complete dance and music lover.....neva got to learn these professionally but yeah aspire to make my kids dancer and singer......;)
6) I love stuffs like tarot reading, palmistry.......one could say those witchy things.....;)
7) For the conclusive part, Me a perfect Aquarian in all terms....:D
Time to tag my friends.......here goes the list.....
suren,rajeshwari,ronny........
Posted by
manzdesai
at
4:42 AM
9
comments
Friday, January 04, 2008
transition !!!!!
Apart from the blame game, and the so called solutions on the safety measures to be implemented lets view the issue from this perspective. Right now our country is undergoing a transition. It is slowly proceeding towards the state of modernization. However, Indians have assumed the wrong meaning of the term modernization. Many even tend to confuse between modernization and westernization. Modernization means process which involves industrialization, urbanization and other social changes basically involving development of both the society as well as the individual, keeping the culture and the traditions of the society intact. Of course, that doesn’t mean being static and adhering to the old traditions which have given way long back and not changing with the changing times. Moreover, our country has altered for the good, eliminating many evils like sati, child marriage etc. But still the mindset of the individuals has not changed to a larger extent. People have become modern, mostly, in their outer appearance, the things they use, the infrastructure etc.but they still are traditional in their mind.
In the urge to become modern, Indians are running behind the westernization influence. Adopting western culture, tradition, values, manners etc is what Indians are more interested in. A person’s class, his position in society is generally decided by how western his way of living is. A person is said to be educated and sophisticated by the branded formals and blazers he wears, when he eats with a knife or a fork instead of his hands, when he uses an imported Merc or a Rolls Royce instead of an Indian Fiat or a Maruti.
Now the point is, how this is related to the issue I have put forth…..
Well, every development that takes place, takes time to reach the zenith. Modernization doesn’t take place suddenly. Deviations do take place during these transitions. Deviations in the behavior of the people involved, in the process of reaching the goal etc. Generations are involved before the whole society becomes modern both mentally and physically. Deviation in this process is the misinterpreting of the two terms modernization and westernization. And that is what is happening. Girls are taking over the western style of dressing and conducting themselves in society. Wearing mini skirts, revealing tops, boozing, getting into unsolicited activities etc under the banner of being modern is a trend today. It becomes hard to digest for the hard core culture inclined people. Moreover, people migrating from rural areas to cities find it hard to digest this culture shock. Well one might very well say that it is their problem. But then thinking objectively, we have to survive in this society and have to adjust according to the mindset of the members of this social system. A male dominated society cannot change the other way round all of a sudden. Ofcourse, women should get their bit and freedom but then progress in this direction should be slowly and steadily. All of a sudden behaving so freely in the society, competing physically with the men etc would lead to such incidents. Ours is a generation facing the transition and it is we who have to struggle to shape the society as per our needs and desires. Society would face such major issues before it reaches a final stage where women would be able to roam around freely, behave in somewhat similar manner as men. That might be the generation of our kids where it would be a cakewalk for them. Youngsters today think at a different line from what their parents think and this brings about a gap in the thinking level of the two generations- the generation gap. May be tomorrow a society might come wherein our ideas might match with the future generations but as obvious this will take time and generations too..
Posted by
manzdesai
at
8:31 AM
17
comments
Tuesday, December 18, 2007


but will surely try to keep posting.....:D
as for now here's one that I had to write on ........
A few days ago I read in the newspaper that 8 dogs were burnt alive under the pretext of being rabid and hence a threat to the people staying in the nearby areas. An investigation later proved that none of the dogs suffered from the disease and were burnt by the residents to get rid of the havoc they created in the society. Their half burnt bodies where left in the open to rot.
I have heard, read , seen many such cases wherein animals are stoned to death, poisoned, caged without providing food and water, sacrificed etc. These issues are given least priority amongst the other serious ones and are hardly read, thought and acted upon. Just imagine yourself in their positions while reading the blog further and give a thought to the whole issue.
Animals are skinned alive in leather industries…imagine their plight, the tears rolling down their eyes, the moaning…. Y? So that a few fashion conscious, trendy individuals boast around those leather accessories pompously. Ever thought, is it a necessity to use leather articles? Is their absence going to prove a deficit to us in any kind? Well, that is for the readers to analyze and answer.
Goats, calves, pigs are locked up in the dark in tiny cages which are not even fit to their size. Due to the size of the cages the animal can neither sit or stand without being able to move around or shift its position. They are kept in such a vilest position for months. And why is that done? So that they there meat colour changes due to lack of movement and absence of exposure to sunlight. Colour of the meat is changed as it is a growing demand by the health conscious people. But imagine just for the demand of a few diet conscious individuals why is an animal tortured for months together.
Cock fighting, bull fighting are some games which have been banned but still being played in some part of the countries. In order to make them ready for the games the animals are caged in the dark for months unexposed to light. Due to this when they are released in the light after such a long period they go wild and become aggressive.
In many butcher shops, section of an animal’s body is sliced without killing it completely in order to prove to the customers that the meat is fresh. Then the animal is left out to suffer in the pain for hours before it is finally slaughtered.
Stray dogs are stoned or beaten by iron, wooden sticks to death. Citizens whine about the nuisance and the harm they cause to them. But hardly any one thinks about the reason of the growth in their population. Authorities concerned with the sterilization and the vaccination of the animal hardly take timely steps. Why for the lazy attitude of the authorities the animal be tortured and murdered? Thinking in detail about it. Why do we have to blame the authorities alone for this. Can't the citizens take steps themselves. Passing on the blame on each other has always proved to be convienient. As the newspapers suggest, every building can adopt atleast two dogs and take complete care of them.
Moreover there are other sophisticated ways to put the animal to sleep than to knocking it off so ruthlessly.
Animals are abused for pleasure, food or experimenting. These are just a few or not even 10% of the issues on animal abuse that I have touched upon. Try considering the above issues and reading more about the topic. Visit a few sites and check out the videos because watching cruelty videos proves to be more effective and touching than reading them.
just thought of putting down some famous quotes which i liked the most :)
God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages. ~Jacques Deval
We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form. ~William Ralph Inge,
Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight. ~Albert Schweitzer
Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they're in the game. ~Paul Rodriguez
I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her. ~Ellen DeGeneres
If you love animals called pets, why do you eat animals called dinner? ~As seen on a shirt at veganstore.com
Posted by
manzdesai
at
12:57 AM
13
comments













