Accidents are normal. They make life what it is. Unpredictable. How hard we try to avert them, they catch us off guard. But they are accidents which happen even after we take all possible measures to avoid them. Our problem is different. It’s suicide. Suicides are seldom watched as coldly as they are watched in our part of the world. Our youth is already vulnerable to all kinds of fatal infections.
Political, social and psychological. Add one more. BIKOLOGICAL. Here you see death dancing on bikes.
The way our children are getting lured to the craze of biking is alarming. A few years back when a 16 year old boy Rasik Shabir lost his life, some bike-crazy boys accepted the challenge as if they vowed to accomplish a mission. They announced (what they in wild enthusiasm named) .313 Stunt Club. Loss of a friend instead of sending chill, emboldened them which is more tragic than the tragedy itself. They say they can’t be stopped as if they are committed to kill themselves and those who come their way. They can’t be punished for being young, but to punish them is to save them. No persuasion or sermonization works here.
Recently a former photo-journalist alongwith his two year old daughter was hit hard by a fast-racing biker. Survived though, but both broke their bones. That is happening every other day. Young boys perform life-taking somersaults thereby risking not only their, but others’ lives too. Many have fallen to the menace and (with the blessings of our system) many more may fall. Biking is a teenage fad. Bikes are used less as means of transport, more as new model flying horses our children flaunt on the roads. With the result, a simple two-wheeler turns a cold killing machine. More shocking is the fact that it’s happening in the full public glare. All watch it. Cops who man the road watch it. Boys who enjoy it watch it. Men who suffer it watch it – and the show goes on. The police don’t have to launch a hunt to check the menace. (It’s not an anti-militancy operation where they demand AFSPA as shield), it’s a pro-people operation where they have full support from the people at large. Unfortunately it’s happening right under their nose. Media has been clamouring for dealing with the menace, but nothing changes. We go on adding dead to the dead. Wounded to the wounded.
Streamlining traffic is not enough. Basant Rath knows it. Regulating the `VIP movement’ lest these `Very Important Persons’ crush past a crowd of not-so-important mortals is not enough. Like in other states drunk drivers were heavily penalised and that reduced accidents considerably. Here also nothing can stop young boys from killing themselves except a merciless imposition of law (which ironically is the kindest way to keep them alive). Seizing the vehicle is the least you could do. Imposing a heavy penalty on parents whose underage children are found doing stunts can be the next. Traffic cop must act like a surgeon who doesn’t slit open a body organ for fun. He is (as Shakespeare says) cruel only to be kind. Punish them to save them. A biker needs care and fear both. Take his bike, give him life.