"A 5 year old and a 12 year old, brother - sister were mowed to death by a passenger train on the MP railway tracks, the angry mob burnt the engine driver alive" read the paper lines.
As usual my brain started questioning:
First of all, what were those two kids doing on a railway track? Apparently, they were playing. For the callous attitude of the parents, the driver had to die a ghastly death. Its a train, even if the driver had applied brakes (which I am sure he would have), it would take some time to take effect, its not a car.
Who's fault was it?
Today, I was in the Delhi Metro, one of the best innovations that happened to the city :). Anyway, a lady boarded the train with her two kids. The kids were running and playing in the coach, they must have been in the age group 8-12 years. The mother continued to browse on her cell phone. When they were about to reach the destination, both the kids went to the door, and started leaning on it, the side which was to 'open' at the station. This action wasn't stopped by the mother, inspite of the written warning in the train, "Please stand clear off the door", if that goes unnoticed, this warning is also transmitted verbally, through the audio system. The mother was nowhere near her kids, she was standing next to a different exit, busy browsing.
The minute the door opened, the little boy, fell on the platform, as he did not 'mind the gap' between the train and the platform, the warning for which was also dutifully transmitted. The mother rushed, (thank god, she put away her phone for once) to the kid, and while she was consoling him, she also hurled abuses at the DMRC people and fought with one of the security guards, saying if something had happened to her kid, she would have taken DMRC to the court.
Who's fault was it?
You go to a mall, any mall, before you get on to the escalator, just read the danger sign effectively put up near it, which clearly says, "children should not be left unaccompanied on the escalator" "Please do not sit" "Hold your child's hand" etc...
How many times have we all seen, kids running up and down the escalators without their parents. They also become adventurous, by attempting to climb up or down the reverse side.
It will take one freaky incident, and the parents will conveniently blame the mall authorities.
Who's fault is it?
Well, am sure we all know the answer. In all of these incidents, it's us 'The Parents'.
Why couldn't the mother keep an eye on her kids and tell them that playing on tracks is dangerous. In a rage everyone killed the driver, how was he to blame? Now who will feed his family?
Was browsing the cell phone so important, that she neglected her kids who were creating a ruckus and giving headaches to co-travelers? As a mother, shouldn't she have explained the dangers of leaning on the door? Kept an eye and made sure that the children behaved while having some fun? How are the authorities at fault even in this case?
Three years ago, when I started driving, my speed would automatically be 10km, the minute I entered my colony, as there were kids who played on the streets.
There is this particular lady, who was self-proclaimed perfectionist, arrogance at its peak, and everyone else was considered a lesser mortal. One day, when I was coming back from somewhere, I saw her older daughter sitting on the middle of the road, I honked, she didn't move, her friends kept telling her to move, and she didn't, there was a car coming from the opposite direction, a call center vehicle, I got down from the car, and I asked her to move, I was very warm and nice to her, she didn't, behind the car was a tractor, I pulled that girl away, forcibly to the corner. Politely but firmly, I asked her why was she doing this? And she ran to her house crying loudly, the other girls surrounded me and so did two more Mums, who happened to see the incident, and appreciated my presence of mind, as the tractor could not have stopped suddenly even if it braked. I just said, anybody in my place also would have done that, even to a stranger, this happens to be a girl I know. I was about to get into the car, when we all heard loud wails, and saw the daughter walking with her furious mother, the mother was gesturing me to stop, I parked my car to the side, and met the mother, the other kids and ladies were also there, one of the ladies asked the mother, if her daughter was ok now, she didn't reply, instead this woman pounced on me, screaming, asking me how dare I 'slap' and 'pull' the daughter? I was horrified and shocked. Before I could say anything, the other girls who were there all that time, told the woman that it was her daughter's fault, and Aunty didn't slap her, she only pulled her away as she refused to move from the road. I was choked for words, this was the lady, who's known me and interacted with me on a daily basis, has also left her kid with me at times. The ladies who witnessed all this, thankfully, supported me and told her to check the story again with her daughter before accusing anyone, as this perfect mother had screamed that 'people who can't drive should sit at home, before they kill someone's child'.
When the daughter was confronted, she told the truth, and she said she was scared. That day, I didn't utter a word, as my eyes were brimming, and my throat was choked, so much that I couldn't even swallow my tears. I sat in my car, went back home, and let my tears pour.
The next day, she behaved as if nothing ever happened. No apologies, no sending the daughter to apologize - Nothing!
What happened to the ideologies of the perfect mother?
And, who's fault was it? Mine because I used force to save that stupid girl?
As usual my brain started questioning:
First of all, what were those two kids doing on a railway track? Apparently, they were playing. For the callous attitude of the parents, the driver had to die a ghastly death. Its a train, even if the driver had applied brakes (which I am sure he would have), it would take some time to take effect, its not a car.
Who's fault was it?
Today, I was in the Delhi Metro, one of the best innovations that happened to the city :). Anyway, a lady boarded the train with her two kids. The kids were running and playing in the coach, they must have been in the age group 8-12 years. The mother continued to browse on her cell phone. When they were about to reach the destination, both the kids went to the door, and started leaning on it, the side which was to 'open' at the station. This action wasn't stopped by the mother, inspite of the written warning in the train, "Please stand clear off the door", if that goes unnoticed, this warning is also transmitted verbally, through the audio system. The mother was nowhere near her kids, she was standing next to a different exit, busy browsing.
The minute the door opened, the little boy, fell on the platform, as he did not 'mind the gap' between the train and the platform, the warning for which was also dutifully transmitted. The mother rushed, (thank god, she put away her phone for once) to the kid, and while she was consoling him, she also hurled abuses at the DMRC people and fought with one of the security guards, saying if something had happened to her kid, she would have taken DMRC to the court.
Who's fault was it?
You go to a mall, any mall, before you get on to the escalator, just read the danger sign effectively put up near it, which clearly says, "children should not be left unaccompanied on the escalator" "Please do not sit" "Hold your child's hand" etc...
How many times have we all seen, kids running up and down the escalators without their parents. They also become adventurous, by attempting to climb up or down the reverse side.
It will take one freaky incident, and the parents will conveniently blame the mall authorities.
Who's fault is it?
Well, am sure we all know the answer. In all of these incidents, it's us 'The Parents'.
Why couldn't the mother keep an eye on her kids and tell them that playing on tracks is dangerous. In a rage everyone killed the driver, how was he to blame? Now who will feed his family?
Was browsing the cell phone so important, that she neglected her kids who were creating a ruckus and giving headaches to co-travelers? As a mother, shouldn't she have explained the dangers of leaning on the door? Kept an eye and made sure that the children behaved while having some fun? How are the authorities at fault even in this case?
Three years ago, when I started driving, my speed would automatically be 10km, the minute I entered my colony, as there were kids who played on the streets.
There is this particular lady, who was self-proclaimed perfectionist, arrogance at its peak, and everyone else was considered a lesser mortal. One day, when I was coming back from somewhere, I saw her older daughter sitting on the middle of the road, I honked, she didn't move, her friends kept telling her to move, and she didn't, there was a car coming from the opposite direction, a call center vehicle, I got down from the car, and I asked her to move, I was very warm and nice to her, she didn't, behind the car was a tractor, I pulled that girl away, forcibly to the corner. Politely but firmly, I asked her why was she doing this? And she ran to her house crying loudly, the other girls surrounded me and so did two more Mums, who happened to see the incident, and appreciated my presence of mind, as the tractor could not have stopped suddenly even if it braked. I just said, anybody in my place also would have done that, even to a stranger, this happens to be a girl I know. I was about to get into the car, when we all heard loud wails, and saw the daughter walking with her furious mother, the mother was gesturing me to stop, I parked my car to the side, and met the mother, the other kids and ladies were also there, one of the ladies asked the mother, if her daughter was ok now, she didn't reply, instead this woman pounced on me, screaming, asking me how dare I 'slap' and 'pull' the daughter? I was horrified and shocked. Before I could say anything, the other girls who were there all that time, told the woman that it was her daughter's fault, and Aunty didn't slap her, she only pulled her away as she refused to move from the road. I was choked for words, this was the lady, who's known me and interacted with me on a daily basis, has also left her kid with me at times. The ladies who witnessed all this, thankfully, supported me and told her to check the story again with her daughter before accusing anyone, as this perfect mother had screamed that 'people who can't drive should sit at home, before they kill someone's child'.
When the daughter was confronted, she told the truth, and she said she was scared. That day, I didn't utter a word, as my eyes were brimming, and my throat was choked, so much that I couldn't even swallow my tears. I sat in my car, went back home, and let my tears pour.
The next day, she behaved as if nothing ever happened. No apologies, no sending the daughter to apologize - Nothing!
What happened to the ideologies of the perfect mother?
And, who's fault was it? Mine because I used force to save that stupid girl?
I had many instances like this, but one thing I understood, parenthood is a difficult task and its our fault if our kids are misbehaving.
ReplyDeleteKids of 'perfect parents' are 'perfectly misbehaved' I guess ;)
ReplyDelete