Tatu Tata

I stay on the main road in a small town near Stuttgart and I often hear the sound (siren) of police vans, ambulance and the fire brigade which Tanay and his friends from the crèche have lovingly named as ‘tatu tata’. Whenever one of these three vehicles is heard on the road, all the other vehicles on the road stop make way; move aside, no matter how congested or small the road is.

I absolutely adore the way these Europeans give importance to life. Ambulance may or may not have the patient inside, there may or may not be a fire broken out somewhere, but these services rush to the point within no time and make every effort to save the concerned person. The police any ways have a duty of maintaining law and order in the city and they rush to the accident spot or the spot where there is a brawl or a fight or a theft in no time. They are very swift and diligent and helpful and people have no fear to approach them when they face any problems.

Cut to Bangalore, India.

A crowded Old Madras Road at about 6:30 pm in peak traffic. Do I even have to tell you what happens to the patient inside till he gets out of this maddening crowd? I recently saw a video where an experiment was conducted in major cities with the ambulance siren on and nobody gave way to the ambulance or stopped or made way. But the same experiment conducted abroad even in dreading snowfall had the same effect that I mentioned above. People stopped their cars, parked them on footpath for a while, but made sure that the way was given to the ambulance.

Why do we have so much apathy towards our own people? Doesn’t the thought ever come to our minds that in that ambulance we or our dear ones can also land sometime? Don’t we value the life of others? Have we lost our human side? Do we no longer feel the pain of others? Aren’t we taught the values to help each other and be sensitive towards each other? What happens to those words of wisdom? Do we lose them once we come out of school?

My head bows in respect for all those people who make way for ambulance. They are in a hurry to reach somewhere, to office, to school or to any other doctor’s appointment. But they stop, they wait, they give preference, they know whom to give importance and they do it very effortlessly. They are taught to do so in school perhaps or while taking driving lessons. It may seem very mechanical on their part to do that, but important is they make an effort.

We often ape the west in fashion and food habits and smoking and drinking. Why can’t we also emulate their responsible behaviour towards the society in general? I am going to start it with myself, when I drive on the roads in India. And am sure, there will be more people like me willing to do so.