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Mixed Emotions on Train Tragedy
By Vishal Sinha
Aug. 6, 2008 |
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When I read
this article (8
Passengers Crushed by Train at Danapur Station),
I went through quite a few emotions. Rarely does
one news story evoke so many mixed emotions in
such a short time.
Sadness. At the people who died. I do not know
what they did, or who they left behind, but I do
know that loss of human life is a very sad
event. It just tells us how fickle life is. Here
today, gone tomorrow. None of those who died
that day would have had any inkling that they
would die under the wheels of a train. Just
shows how small we are in the grand scheme of
things. An earlier train would have cut a few
minutes off the journey, but now so many lives
and livelihoods have been cut short.
Anger. At the stupidity of the people who
crossed the tracks to take an earlier train.
Everyone knows what is safe and what is not
safe. When we do unsafe things we know we are
exposing our self to risk of injury or death. So
we take steps to overcome the risk. Maybe take
more precautions. These people tried to cross a
track when obviously there was a train
approaching. It was not dark. 5:35 PM in Patna
in August would mean that the sun was out – if
not cloudy. In essence there would be enough
light to be a able to see a train coming towards
anyone. And the noise an approaching train would
make would be warning enough that things are not
right. Even then, if one wanted to cross the
track, one would have made some assessment of
the risk before crossing the track. The
assessment failed and the people died.
Fury. At the wantonness with which the general
public behave whenever they perceive that they
have been at the receiving end. The death of the
passengers was not the failure of the railway.
The passengers acted on their own free will. And
against any sane advice that they may have asked
for from anyone in responsibility. There are
overhead bridges on stations which allow people
to cross between platforms. But, the general
public immediately decided that the railways are
to blame and attacked the station premises. What
logic. But then, in mass hysteria, logic does
not play a part.
Astonishment. At Mr. L P Yadav’s decision to
give compensation and railway jobs to the next
of kin of the dead. What signal does it give.
That I make a mistake, and I or my kin gets
rewarded for it. It escapes me completely why
even Mr. Yadav came into the picture. Giving the
tax payers money to people who died because they
were foolish and did not heed basic safety rules
on a station. Mr. Yadav, I want my income tax
back. I do not want people like you spending it
on people who are foolish and do not care about
their own lives. Mr. Yadav, I would rather that
you spent more money on passenger education on
the basic safety on railway platforms than
giving out monetary and job compensation
whenever someone dies. No sir, Not from my
income tax return.
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Comments: |
I
agree that one should be careful
when crossing 'danger'. But I did
not agree that the compensation
which seems not enough to compensate
the loss of a family should not be
given. Being a Human being, one must
think for other human being. -
Fazal Karim, Patliputra Colony,
Patna - Aug. 15, 2008
I
am totally agree with Mr. Sinha that
as long as we do not take care of
our own responsibility no one else
can help us. We made a big hue and
cry over that incident but can we
deny with the fact that it was our
fault only. Whenever something
happens our leaders just announce
some compensation, which hardly
reaches to the family. Being a good
human being doesn't mean that you
make someone paralyzed. These
incidents directly show our
mentality that whatever we are
getting from our politicians,
actually we deserve that. -
Tulika Samrendra - Aug. 16. 2008 |
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