Daily Dose by Bikram Vohra
The two elements needed to indict any motorist in India is to have him own a foreign made luxury car and live in a posh area. If he then finds himself in an accident he is nailed to the cross with glee and malice flowing like lava from the those who report these accidents. It is almost as if it is the guilt of owning the Beamer or the Merc that makes the whole thing into a delicious news morsel where you sliug the culprit without any courtesy whatsoever.
It is like being hit by a Maruti 800 or a WagonR is no fun, no big deal. Ask the guy who was squelched under the wheels if he feels any redeeming factor in being hit by a Land Rover rather than a Nano. Hi Mum, hi Dad, I think I have lost both legs but you’ll be proud I got hit by a 2010 model Lexus, no crummy Santro for me.
I was in Delhi last week and some guy in a Porsche has whacked a motorcyclist and that guy is now in the hospital and the report is so wickedly slanted you wonder what’s up, how is it allowed. Obviously, the Porsche owner ‘hails’ from a posh locality in South Delhi (guilty, hang him up, the little upstart has a rich daddy) and he planned this whole operation, got up in the morning and said, okay, Porschie baby, let’s go get ourselves a chappie on a bike, that’s our mission.
There is not even a sliver of a chance for the Porsche owner. It is like he deserves comeuppance for daring to be rich. And there is no sympathy for him either. Not from the media. Not from the police, not from the reader, not from anyone. And he lives in a posh area. Kick his sorry butt.
The motorcyclist, many of whom are a pain on the roads, may have broken six different safety laws but he is innocent because he is riding a second hand Rajdoot. So what if he was wheeling his way through a red light, zig zagging through traffic, changing lanes without warning, not wearing a helmet, the fact is he was hit by a nasty Porsche from that undetermined posh area.
It is like for aspirational India being wealthy is criminal and the law changes its texture at least in the public eye. The way it is written up or babbled about on TV, you know they are telling you without actually articulating it that he was reckless, drunk, debauched, coming from a nightclub, had nothing but disdain for the common man, is unregretful and unrepentant, spoilt, has a hope in hell of getting out of this if we have anything to do with it. What price he is a decent person who has a successful business, was driving the car at 50 kph, had his seatbelt on, was cold stone sober,was concerned about his gallstones and was slammed by the cyclist?
Are you crazy? He was driving the Porsche, man, and he lived in a posh area.
And this is all from people in the media who plaster their cars with PRESS back and front and expect privileged benediction on the same roads. But then, they are not driving Porsches.