I can see you!

Fastfood, Amritsar style ©JMatthew

There I was clinging on to the side-rail and my dear life as the auto-rickshaw needled its way through the tiny alleys squeezing through the passage with surgical precision that only a neurosurgeon can outdo. Stunts that these fellows can do, even Evel Knievel would fail. They knew their vehicles like the back of their hands as if their machines were extra appendages of their bodies. They do not need a reverse camera to judge the distance to the car behind them. Neither required is the irritating tones of sensors for their work. They just need their car horns. Have honk will travel! They swerve past pedestrians leaving a trail of dust and smoke without a care in the world. The blaring horns seem not a last-minute desperate measure to alert but instead gave rhythm to the rickety vehicle and noisy engines like Illayaraja's percussions accompanying his masterpiece. The automan's joy and pride, his horn, gave warnings of different tones, from a light whisper to a yell to an almost angina-inducing 'foul-languaged' curse that 
would chase animals and even people into hiding. Welcome to India. 

This was an entirely new experience for me. Guarded against the vultures from the land of the survival of the fittest, I had it cushy. I had been taught and was expected by the fellow users of the road, to uphold certain decorum. I come from a land where rules were made to be followed, not flaunted.

Here, red on the traffic lights are mere ornaments like the ones that dorn the Christmas trees. Traffic signs are just accessories. Traffic rules are Aesop's fables, only for children. Seat belts, safety helmets, overloading... what are they?

Despite all the chaos, the continuous trail of movement of people with the heated brake pads, nobody seems incensed. Nobody shows any emotion. Like an emotionless poker player, motorists just overcome their obstacles with monastery students' patience. Nobody has time to show their displeasure, either with their middle finger or steering locks. Perhaps, they realise that the mascot-idol on their dashboard is watching their every move.

There is no bottleneck, just a slight hiccup in the system. There is always a little space for an oversized vehicle to squeeze through in these narrow lanes. The pavements are still there for the autos to do a side wheelie!

I see you!

"I was here first!' screamed the tree echoed by other tree
huggers! ©FG

             There is place for everyone on God's Earth ©FG

Sometimes, some people...

There have been many of so-called 'trial of media' of late. Somebody would commit a crime. He would be caught on tape doing it or after the fact. The widespread use of CCTV and dashboard cameras makes every action digitalised whether we like it or not. Then the uploading to social media and hence the floodgates would open. Every netizen who cannot even string a straight sentence would suddenly metamorphose into a law savvy opinionated caring human who cares for humanity and would go all out to ensure that justice is meted out.

If only the truth can be whipped out so easily!

MGR whipping the villain MN Nambiar into

submission as the missing twin emerges from

oblivion to reclaim his share of the estate from his 

conniving deceptive relatives in 1967 blockbuster

'Engal Veetu Pillai' (see pic below too).

The vilification and character assassination would ensue. Details of his employment, home address and even information deemed private, like vehicle ownership and type of business will be out in the open.

With the hype of the recent cases of road bullies and the brisk manner in which justice was seen to have been carried out, I started to wonder whether we are threading the dangerous path of accepting the loudest as the honest and endorsing lies which appear repeatedly as the truth.

In one case, the offender, after found guilty by was vouched by his friends to be a great human, a philanthropist and even an animal lover.

That is the trouble with the world is that on one hand we say there is goodness in everyone of us but on the other we are taught to believe in duality of things. Things are either good or bad; right or wrong; black or white; heaven or hell! Even our scriptures has defined to us of what is right and what is wrong. There is no two ways about it. There must, however, be a middle ground.

A saying in Tamil, or rather the title of a novel which was made into a movie later, goes.. சில நேரங்ககிளில் சில மனிதர்கள் (Sometimes some people). Sometimes some people do the darkest of things at their weakest moments in life. Generally they could be good people as good parents, good leaders and good citizens but with a little mood altering life situation or pharmacological influence, the devil inside may surface.

I am in no way condoning any of their actions but to remind ourselves that it could happen to you or me. We cannot wait for God's justice to prevail as it takes too long. Hence, mankind takes it upon itself to punish its kind and give a sense of satisfaction to its victim as well as send a clear message to possibly hinder future offenders. Really?

MN Nambiar, stereocast as a villain in umpteenth Tamil movies. He is portrayed as the epitome of evil out to ruin every of the hero's attempt to win the heroine's heart and as a cruel zemindar would oppress the peasants in every conceivable manner. In real life, however, he is a pious vegetarian and teetotaller. And a philanthropist, too.