#10, The Death of a Child.

Unlike the usual early morning dash to the gym, we left home late this morning. En route to work, an over crowded bus grabbed my attention in OMR. I slowed down & pulled my camera to click a shot of the bus. As I was trying to put my thoughts together, I saw something which I wished I hadn’t seen.

Barely 100meters ahead of me I saw a child breathe her last. It was the same bus. Crowd began to gather around her; men & women in tears tried to turn away but their inherent voyeuristic self, made them hang around. Boys & girls wearing similar uniforms came running towards her crying out loudly. No one tried to touch her; there as no obvious attempt to rush her to a hospital, it was too late.

Spare a thought for her parents who were probably away at work, building a better tomorrow for her, thinking their child was at school learning something new today. In the next few hours they would have to face the cold truth that there is no tomorrow for her.

“In our pursuits to save a few minutes we end up losing a lot more than just time.”

This was obviously not the first such incident to happen in that stretch, yet the over head bridges are not used. Why? Because there aren’t any elevators or escalators! People cross road jaywalking immune to multiple fatal incidents in the last year or so. This bus driver didn’t seem to be over speeding; he was just crossing a stationary bus – well could he have been more careful – certainly. Along with the hundreds of others she probably tried to cross the road unmindful of vehicles on the move. While it may be a very rude thing to say, I am inclined to believe that may be the child was at fault. But then, aren’t we all to be blamed here for having played a role in her untimely death?

We as matured adults break rules in our daily lives and set such bad examples to children watching us. The rebels inside us make us feel proud with a petty sense of achievement. How often do we jump a red signals, jaywalk even if the signals haven’t changed, ride two wheelers without helmets- at times even loading more than 4 people in a two wheeler. How about piracy, using foul language, back biting or any such unethical practices? We all neglect the fact that our children, not just our own, but the ones who are around us are observing us and there are high chances that they will grow into what they see today

And I wonder if this child would have been alive today, if her parents looked right, looked left, waited for vehicles to stop before crossing roads or used the over head bridges where ever available. And…in this case, there was one just a few hundred meters away. She would have been alive if the people around her waited for the road to clear up before they rush into the road – or crossed the road in a traffic signal. What if our political leaders ensured that there were more busses on the roads in peak hours – may be the driver would have then had a better control over his steering!

“You may look weird; you may be called a nerd. At times sticking on to the ground rules is the best thing you can do to make this world a better place.”