Good Samaritans
Passerby make a valiant attempt to move an injured cow away from the path of the oncoming Kota Jan Shatabdi. The cow had presumably been hit on the flanks by a passing train a short while ago.
Credits: Karthik Nanda, Shashanka Nanda - IRFCA.
Notwithstanding Nithari, say what you want about India but this pic is one proof that we Indians are definitely not as bad as it is projected by some. Apparently the oncoming train, in this instance was stopped just to save the poor thing.
Here are some other instances in the recent past where i’ve seen the good face of India
1.When me and mom had an accident in ECR.
The guy who gave his handkerchief to hold my bleeding leg, would’ve in all probability given up his only kerchief for my sake. The much abused auto rickshaw driver of chennai then took me and mom to a doctor nearby and did not bother to collect his fare for the distance.
2. My friend Satya’s guesture a few years back.
A speeding Mini-truck(Swaraj Mazda,DCM Toyota type) knocked down a commerical carrier auto one afternoon near Nandanam signal. Some 4 of my colleagues had gone down from our 7th floor office since most of guys are ‘Dhum’ parties and they cannot go without one after lunch. Satya saw the hit and the auto somersault and in a flash ran towards the auto, rescued the guy who had sustained head injury, took him to Royapettah GH and returned only after the guy’s family had come.
Please bear in mind that all this in a country where Emergency Healthcare is one of the lowest in the world. Not to mention that issues a helping guy may have to face from the police, hospital etc.
It is all very well to compare the west with us and say the concern for human life is poor in India, but please bear in mind that our metros put together may have more people than the entire population of a few countries, all fighting with each other for resources as fundamental as water, public toilets, etc..
I have to admit i’ve not been involved in any such heroics.
For the population and the issues in India, any other country would’ve had a civil war long back.
March 26th, 2007 at 2:21 am
I agree… There are good samaritans in India… be it a cow or be it another human being… there are people who march a feet ahead to do whatever they can..
March 26th, 2007 at 9:28 am
PK,
I agree with you. I have done lot of such emergency help in the past, and stopped after I encountered few problems in doing so. One of such victim’s family, was about to sue me, thinking that I was involved in the accident and that is why I took so much of care. They could not believe my sincerity inspite of eyewitnesses talking in favour of me. They wanted to extract money from me. Again during a night, near the Trisoolam airport, when a man was lying with his scooter on the GST road, I got down from my motorcycle to pull him out of the road, since there were heavy trucks rushing at great speeds. Unfortunately the man who was drunk caught hold of me and started abusing me, thinking that I was the one who had hit his scooter. Fearing for a repetition of my past experience, I made him to sit in the side road, and had to move from the scene. Once a friend of mine, and myself saw a couple hit by a heavy four wheeler Jeep something like a Sumo, and went to help the couple. Took the couple to the nearby hospital admitted them, and called their relatives from home. Handed over their belongings to the couple (including bundles of currencies) who were conscious but had multiple injuries. Rushed back to the scene and the nearest police station and narrated the entire episode to the Inspector and another gentleman. They both listened to us with patience and within few minutes the boy who was driving the Jeep was brought in by a mob and the boy hugged the gentleman who was talking to the inspector. In front of me, the gentleman told the Inspector, that he was the one who was driving, and the Inspector’s look towards me changed. Later two or three ambassadors full of people arrived who were part of the killer driver. I could understand that things were going against us. My friend and myself would have been done anything with the police support and their mob. We came out of the police station to see 2 or 3 innocent public like me who were under the opinion that we had done some justice. But to our greatest disappointment, the police and thugs asked whether we could remain for few more minutes, in a threatening way. We normally see such scenes only in movies. Within minutes, even the remaining public disappeared and we both of us had to move out of the station, since we could see that we were losing support. We went back to the hospital and informed to the couple. In this whole episode half a day was lost. I tried to be in touch with the victims, and it was not solved even after 2 or 3 years, their multiple fractures and the bad memories only remained. So leave alone the emergency care, why is not our other system helping ordinary people. How long are we going to talk about our population? What has population got to do with the police? Why does not the police try to help the innocent? Why do they help only those who are influential? Where is the problem lying? I did not witness the episode. I was just a passer by. But out of humanity, we did those help. No autorickshaws stopped to help those victims. I had to plead to a driver and his passengers who were returning from the airport. This incident changed many things in my outlook with the public system.
March 26th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Balaji sir,
I feel sorry for your experiences..truly horrowing indeed!
But i believe population definitely has an impact. The police, we all know how unscrupulous they can be. But i dont think any policeman in India does an 8 hr shift. Its almost like 24 hours responsibility. He cannot fight for his rights or any privileges. He cannot complain in public. He deals with criminals 24×7x365. He will be stretched to the max. Again too many people fighting for limited resources. in such scenarios those with extra push manage to manipoulate the system.
Maybe it would be interesting if we think about the police force per capita in a developed western country and India.
March 26th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
So, what are you trying to tell the world ?
March 27th, 2007 at 12:34 am
Kudos…..well written….yet another article i’ve come across…
March 27th, 2007 at 5:32 am
Good one PK..
March 27th, 2007 at 6:06 am
Excellent post PK..
I had involved in such a emergency help but all went in vain..we couldnt save the life..
PK, have you ever been to GH’s emergency ward?????
Sorry to say that i hate our GH’s emergency ward and the way they treat ppl…
March 27th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
good post PK,
visiting here after a long time…
March 28th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
I do not know if you are concluding that the problems are because of the population or the problem is the population itself.
In every country there are good souls and bad. Do not know if their fraction in the total populace remains same. For every Gandhi there is probably a King , a Schweitzer or a Mandela and for every Koli/Pandher there are a few McVeighs/Nichols or Bin Ladens/Zawahiris!
When it comes to good or kind deeds, there is a lot more visibility in developing or under developed nations. Even within the developing countries who would you notice more ? A guy who donates 10000 rupees for “anna dhan” at a temple to feed a few hundred people or the beggar outside the temple who shares this “anna dhan” with the street dog ? Somehow the latter is more photo worthy, caption worthy and noticeable. It is like a good deed made better!
As for the Civil war possibilities in other countries with this type of population, I have mixed feelings on that. For lack of a better analogy, if you were to compare countries to companies, a company wiht a few 100 people can grow (in all aspects) exponentially or fizzle away real soon, depending on its core technology (natural resources), its team (people) and management (government). Once it becomes a few 1000 people company, it reaches a critical mass and at that point it becomes just another established company or in rare instances it breaks away from the crowd and grows to be a few 100000 people company.
It is true that growth becomes difficult with size simply due to inertia! Microsoft, GE, IBM are classic examples of how they went beyond that point. They all complain about growing at the same pace wiht their size. But once in a while they do break the status quo and post growth numbers that are significant! That is usually when they make hard decisions..
I am sure you can avoid civil wars and grow, if you have a better management team, or you might come back and tell me that all the power stuggles within these big companies are nothing but Civil wars!
At the end of the day, I am happy for the cow. It did not end up on someones dinner table! Thank god for that.
March 28th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
hi PK!
Excellent articles man!!! keep posting
March 29th, 2007 at 2:36 am
One of the best articles i have come across…of late i have stopped reading articles on these topics..as i believe none give solution or result….just another article to show “iam concerned” or “iam affected”…enough of expressions….everyone’s aware..i wonder any politician or an autorickshaw driver reads any of our writings…..but this title (It’s the attitude, stupid!) struck me on my face to read further..throw a glance at it when u have time…..http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/mar/29china.htm
@PK: no offense meant…i know its UR space….LOL…:-)
April 2nd, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Very well written! and absolutely very true! But unfortunately, my mum and I met with an accident and it was right outside the BSS hospital, mylapore, which also happens to be an ‘auto stand’. A drunked auto drive hit my KH from behind and my mum was thrown over to the pavement. Severe injuries and bleeding. The ‘hitman’ - a drunk auto driver, and right after I got up from the road and collected my bearings there were people still standing and watching the scene.. I had to use some ‘madras-pleasantries’ to get a couple of people to lift her and take her inside the hospital.
I’d just say I have been unlucky.:)
Sorry for the long comment, and btw, Fantastic photograph in b/w. Did you shoot it yourself? Excellent picture!
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:45 am
Arun,
Welcome here.Guess its a mixed bag!
cipher,
thanks..kandippa padikaren.. dunno when
srinivas ramshetty,
welcome here man
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:49 am
sundar narayanan,
interesting anology. but for a country like india you should not compare cash rich companies like IBM, Microsoft etc.
probably a loss making public sector firm with thousands of employeess would be more apt
And also regarding your take on a helping poor guy getting more media attention.. well thats’ always been the case right?
Namba puranathile kooda bhagwan oru yezhai veetuku poi pasi yinaale vadara
madhri nadichu unavu sapidradha dhaane perumaya pesurom?
and quite justifiably so if you ask me..
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:50 am
ksprabhu,
welcome here maapla!
balar,
GH laam konjam kastam dhaan… i agree..eppo maarumnu therila..
chakra,
nandri hai!