28 December, 2007

And the camera flashed...

I dunno what makes me write on this today. It happens to me quite often. Some faint symbols bring back old thoughts, thoughts about events which might not even bother anyone. But somehow, small incident just sticks to my mind and i keep thinking it over and over again.

Today as my dad drove through the busy streets of Manama, I heard the siren of an ambulance just behind our car. And that itself was enough to remind me of an incident i heard a long time back which had stolen my thoughts for quite a while.

Here, goes the incident as told by my friend about her father...

Like any other person, driving a car, he was held up by the traffic signal. The siren of an ambulance buzzing right behind his car. Being left with no other choice, he crossed the fatal yellow line to give way to the ambulance. And the camera flashed...
He didnt realise what happened until he was fined BD50 (INR 6,000)

Why???
The radar had caught his number plate for breaking rules. For crossing when the traffic signal was red.
And when it was his turn to explain the situation which led him to act like that, nobody listened. No proof. Therefore pointless.

This incident might seem too small, too insignificant but still somehow it provoked me to think.
How discouraging!
How unfair!
How ridiculous!
How hopeless!

Yes, hopeless... isnt it. When will technology learn to understand the cause and the effect? But again... should we blame technology for this? It had dutifully done what it was programmed to do. Then was it his fault to give way to a dying patient? No way. My conscience refuses. Then why such an immoral, unfair judgement for a genuine noble act is all I ask...

I havent found an answer still. Wrote this in search of an answer.

Beautiful mind

5 comments:

KC said...

yep... justice is very cruel... after all she's blind... and she's a woman... what else can you expect from a feminist who is 'in the dark' about reality... vigilante justice is the orer of the day... let's start the league of extaordinary trichyites and fight crime.... excuse me for being so light-veined... but that's who i am....:-)

Saddy said...

Well lets just say India hasnt developed as far in technology as elsewhere, but after what u've written am thankful for that

Vetrivel Raghavan said...

well, every one did their duty - dad gave way, the traffic system worked, dad paid the fine... this was just half the story. The rest of the story goes like this... "the patient survived."

I need to quote someone's words, "It was then my dad told, how many people could become leaders today? How many people took the responsibility to bring about a positive change by overlooking the risk factor? Very few take the challenge. And very few are rewarded."

:)

Nivil Jacob said...

An interesting thought. Hasn't someone once said " Rules are made for man, man is not made for rules", or something like that,..lolz.. what i intended to say is that, it's always the human being who has the prime importance infront of the law, and not the law itself. And even though Mr. kc may sound rude, but he spoke the truth. When state cars blast through the signals nobody seems to care, but when a common man, the 'aam aadmi', crosses the line to save a patients life, he's fined. Is that justice? NO..!!

And as an optimist, taking risks are always rewarded, if you believe your guts. Act today, you may or may not get tomorrow.

Nice to see some moral questions thrown in. Would make an excellent debate. And the letter from your mother, i'm wondering a'bt the circumstance under which she wrote that brilliant advice.. is she catholic?

Beautiful Mind said...

@mr from trissur
forgive me i cant read malayalam and hence im referring to u as mr from trissur.
as u asked... my mom is into meditation... she picked up the final analysis from there... and ill describe the circumstance on some other post someday...lolzz..