6th Sep, 2016. The noise is maddening on the road.
Windows are uptight closed. You are listening to your music yet it is not
audible deep down your subconscious mind. So what are you listening actually?
As far as I see, you all are hearing and seeing what you want to see or hear. The
conscious Mind, the ordinary mind is the slave of the instructions of
subconscious mind. Not everyone is a spiritual enlightened being that one can
subdue his or her subconscious mind and become Superconscious Being and can
listen to the waning heartbeat of the patient in the ambulance coming from behind
struggling to get through the equal maddening traffic.
If this is the fact to be accepted
that on roads, peak time specially, ambulance has bleak chances to get whole
hearted support from so called civilized and evolved minds till 2016, it will
not be wrong if we say the blame of apathy has to be transferred from someone to
someone. As someone has to be the last wall standing at the back to take the
blame and accept it and do something about it. A person driving with music on, windows
closed, driving in a chaotic roads and that too peak office hours, one can’t expect
also that person to be morally wrong of not giving way to ambulance. So let’s
say your ears are freed from this blame game that you didn’t heard the siren of
ambulance. But what about your eyes. Can you find ways to allow your sub-conscious
mind looking desperately to find ways to help the patient in ambulance in reaching
hospital safely and timely. I think so! We can give it a try.
Put your car StandBy Indicators On! Put your car StandBy Indicators ON! Put your left
indicator of your two wheeler vehicle On! For what? To slow down!. The StandBy Indicator, has string psychological association and meaning known to others once you put it on that you are slowing down or you are coming to REST! The person behind you get a subliminal message and he acts on it immediately. Slow down or stop with both
the Indicators ON simultaneously! I have
tried myself! It’s a matter of 1 minute or less of slowing down your car but
the ambulance gets the way quicker that have seen this working. All who wish to
do something during that intense moment can slow down till ambulance maneuvers easily
to a good distance ahead of you.
Whenever the ambulance is on road,
actually it should move with speed and every other vehicle around it should literally
STOP! But this is not possible in India wherein we respect the dead one more
than the alive ones! We have rituals, norms, rules, scientific proof on why do
we have rituals for dead ones but there is no such ritual , norms, rules for
patient who may die or is about to die! There is a fine of Rs. 2000 for someone
who doesn’t give way to ambulance on delhi roads! But no one or rarely someone is
challaned. Why? The family of patient in ambulance is not interested in that
2000 bucks that government might get during rather saving every second that might
be used of saving patient.
Everyday it’s a common sight on
delhi roads that two cars who have accidentally hit each other, whether the
dent was minor one or big one, they ensure that they put the whole traffic on
ransom and give a big jolt, a big brake to the already crawling traffic motion.
Imagine now that if the physical dent causes someone to react so wildly how
much reaction should come if your give someone’s family an emotional dent! That
too a permanent one, irreplaceable one,
deep wound that no one can see and no time doctor can heal it.
In 7 minutes of ambulance delay, the
survival chances of heart attack patient reduces by 80% or more. You can keep
on arguing on theory of karmas or government apathy or capitalism blooming in
metros or automobile industry converting roads into big warehouse, most
licenses in India are through agents which are actually gifted by parents to
their kids on their birthdays date, most training of driving is taken by
playing car race video games. All logics are equally valid but the
justification of loss of lives due to delay in ambulance on roads because of
lack of action by ordinary persons like you and me is beyond any reason or
emotion.
As per facts only 5% or less
number people call ambulance knowing very well that it will not reach on time.
The private cab companies can reach in 5 minutes to your home. Pizza can reach
in 30 minutes but not ambulance. Major drivers are men, most road side accidents are of men! I have a small daughter of 2 year old and
sometimes I imagine if she grows up one day and she has to carry me in ambulance
and sees such messy situation on roads, how will she react or act. Girls are conditioned
to depend on right side of brain majorly and all her upbringing has major influence
on being passive and trusting that good will happen soon. In that case if has to drive on her own, tears
are not capable to transform the car into a charter plane if stuck into
traffic. Shall we say it to be traffic of vehicles or traffic of mind! We can’t
control business. Everyone should have a car! It’s a symbol of your professional
success, an answered prayers while you were burning midnight oil! All agreed!
In one kargil war almost 500
soldiers died but in delhi almost 1600 ordinary persons died in road accidents
per year. That means more than 3 kargil wars every year in delhi! If sound of
death can’t reach your ears, it’s okay but atleast your eyes can see it in the
rear view mirror. Eyes are the windows to
your soul. Can we train the contemporary delhites and other zones of heavy
traffic to put Indicators ON
whenever they see am ambulance on road. Sound has not been able to generate
full emotions out of all so far. Sound of atomic bomb failed to generate
emotions either! But if you can at least
contribute in very small feasible way, the cars following you will also slow
down and also stop eventually for a moment or two. The ambulance will definitely get that big benefit
of each moment saved due to each car on your lane.
Drivers of ambulance actually
eyes for space on roads instead of following the rule of moving on right side
of road. They have not be given the privilege to exercise their right to move
on right side. At least with this slowing down they will speed up the ambulance
and reduce some minutes of their transit time. It’s difficult to change the
habits or stand face to face with sub-conscious mind hitlery. But with every
step taken consciously daily, regularly, the sub-conscious mind is emptied into
conscious level. Let’s make an attempt to become conscious while driving. Put
the Indicators ON whenever you see an Ambulance.
Prof. Dr. Nitin Arora
Amity University , Noida
