Nothing to loose

So, I had been to Coimbatore this weekend. To meet my little fussy sister, who got conjunctivitis and acted as though she was on death bed and her last wish was to see me. I pulled along, cursing the darn elastic strings of emotional bonding!!

I took the bus from Bangalore. I was shaken out of my beautiful reverie by the lack of rickety motion of the bus. I realized there was traffic jam on either side of the Mettur by-pass road, for nearly 2 km long.

Reason: Head on collision between a highway traffic patrol car and a lorry.

Casualities: None. Albeit The” Ego war” between the highway police and lorry driver as to whose fault it was and who should move out of the road first. (yeah, we the people of India have a deep rooted obsession for public property including roads, that a few years down, I wont be surprised even if NH roads are issued Legal heir certificates).

Finally after two heated hours of bickering, a third party Police intervention took place to pacify their brothers involved and clear up. The bollywood formula that the Police arrives after the “THE END” card flashes is true.

The 2 km long traffic had all sorts of vehicles and people stranded. Marriage parties, buses, two wheelers, cars of various sizes and shapes and prices and also AMBULANCE, in which a tiny life was struggling to extricate from the darkness of the womb ( Little did she know that it is the safest place ever). The lady delivered in the ambulance. Sans any Doctor. With Just a few villagers who held sarees to cover her up from poring, curious yang eyes. The lady and baby survived. The real endurance test, for both alike. The umbilical cord was cut with a Gillette shaving razor. Then the reality slapped hard on my face. Do we have any value for Human life here? Had this ambulance been stranded in USA, the highway patrol, lorry man and police dept would have been sweet geol birds for eons. Now I love my country and am not being a cynic, but this made me think. WHO IS TO BLAME?