Once I was returning from a social visit, early evening and as usual there so much traffic on Mount Road in Chennai that I had to stop at very short intervals. Amidst this confusion of people changing lanes and turning left from the right end of the road, all of us heard the siren of an ambulance and most of us immediately made way for the ambulance to go ahead.
It was quite weird that some people moved with reluctance and some in fact were told by others to move their vehicle to allow the ambulance to pass. There was one person in a car right at the end(with the windows open) sitting unmindful of the siren and the commotion. Another person on the two-wheeler parked his bike went up to the car and yelled at him to move out to allow the ambulance to go ahead. He then looked on to both his sides and just moved his car a little forward and the ambulance zipped off.
I was very embarrassed at this sight, one because people are so unmindful of the traffic rules, like giving way for the ambulance on immediately hearing the siren, two because I had a foreign visitor with me who was in my car and he was intently watching the whole thing. I hung my head in shame when he said, I don’t think it is a question of not being aware of the traffic rules, but it is a question of a person’s attitude and concern for others.
Later when I returned home and thought over it, I realized that the foreigner’s comment was not as embarrassing as it should have been, but the attitude of some on the road who don’t care to think about adhering to these kind of important rules that hurt me the most.
There two sides to this kind of an attitude. One the kind that has scant respect for another man’s pain and priority, the other being living in an Ivory tower built by the selfish ego. Any number of rules, any number of punishments and fines would have negligible effect, if there were no concern for others in a society. Most tend to brush away the real objective of punishment and fine, as once the payment is over we do not think about rectifying our lapses.
This certainly does not justify the need to increase level of punishment and fine, because it is certainly not going to make a difference as we somehow pay and get away with the mistake. If it is not I it is going to be someone else. How do we make someone realize that such attitudes are an important characteristic of one’s personality? At what point of time in life should man make efforts to inculcate a positive mental attitude? Where and when do we begin?