[PatchyBoy]

Request to MODS: If you feel this is completely OT or inappropriate, please delete it. I am not trying to blame anyone or point fingers at anyone. Just some soul searching, thats all.

I was born here in this country. In my childhood, I never aspired to be a policeman. I always looked at the policeman as a corrupt individual, who will be more than happy to look the other way, provided I grease his palm. I believed that honest policemen existed only in the movies.

My parents aspired for me to become an Engineer or a Doctor. So I became an engineer. Then I got married and my wife was a doctor. So life was good. Eventhough, I was aware of the population explosion and the problems it caused, I went ahead and had two children. I thought I was doing a favour by not having a third child.

And as the tradition demanded, I aspired for my children to become engineers or doctors. Not once the thought of my children becoming policemen crossed my mind. As I was a busy professional, I never took the time out to go and vote. Afterall, politicians usually come from criminal backgrounds, are not very well educated and are complete misfits to rule the country, right? I never bothered to understand what George Jean Nathan meant when he said “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.”

Now that I was well settled in my life and all my needs were taken care of, it was time to indulge in luxuries. Back when I was a teenager, a car was a luxury. Not anymore. Now I live in a booming economy and can afford the luxury of owning a car. When I decided I must buy a car, I immediately did a lot of research, discussed with friends - real and virtual, compared models, analyzed models - power, build quality, quality of components, milage, even resale value. I was trying to protect my investment, even before making it. Based on all these inputs, I zeroed in on a car that I believed was the best for my needs. Not once did it cross my mind to read the Central Motor Vehicle Act and ensure that I am buying a car that complies with rules. It is the responsibilty of the manufacturer to ensure that, I argued.

Once I bought the car, I found that there were small nitty gritties, that were not to my taste. The car felt under powered, so I added a piggyback ECU to boost power. I felt that the headlights were not bright enough. So I installed a relay and HID lamps. I felt the tyres were too skinny. I blamed the manufacturer for trying to cut costs and upsized the tyres. I live in a tropical country and the climate is pretty hot most of the year. After spending so much money buying a car and modifying it to suit my tastes, how can I suffer? So I added sun control film. Then I found it was difficult driving in the nights, so I added even brighter head lights. The exception here was, I knew that the legal limit was 55/60, but I went ahead and installed 100/130 nevertheless.

When driving on the roads, my attitude was very simple - "Anyone who drives slower than me is a moron and anyone who drives faster is a maniac". I was convinced that I am the best driver in the world. On highways, I drove at speeds way above the legal limit and went ahead and shared that info with my friends. "High speed handling and cornering is awesome", I said and they all nodded in agreement.

My life was sailing smooth, till Mr. Avishek Goenka decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court. That changed my life irrepairably. How foolish can one be to drive a car without sun control film, I asked. Then I announced to the world, I am going to wait and watch. If the police pull me over, I will get help from "Gandhi" I joked. My rear defogger will be damaged, I protested. I said a lot of unsavoury things about the petitioner, about the judges that gave the ruling, about the people who were in favour of the ruling and everyone who did not agree with my point of view. I questioned the scientific knowledge of the Judges. I questioned Mr. Avishek Goenka's intention. I ridiculed him for asking 100% visibilty, when that was not logically possible.

I complained about bad politicians. I complained about the inefficient Government. I also made statements like "what is next? transparent houses?","In a country that has only 135 policemen per 100,000 citizen, what else do you expect?", "The politicians are corrupt goondas. I did not elect them. Heck, I did not even vote. So why should I suffer now?".

Can someone file a counter PIL, I lamented. I suspected a nexus of Sun Control Film manufacturers and the courts. I questioned the timing of the whole thing. I questioned everything and everyone. I claimed that I am a law abiding citizen, who pays taxes honestly and I deserve to be treated better. I also branded this country as a "Banana Republic". I claimed that my wife will now be exposed and unprotected driving in a car without Sun Control Film.

I have done my part for this country, right? Afterall, I have a bumper sticker that says "Proud to be an Indian", shouldn't that suffice?

Rajan

[sumathindra]

Removing the films now or on the 5th June is immaterial. Ultimately one has to comply with the law and follow that. So in the interest of a peaceful drive on the streets and not fearing of being caught it is better to remove the films at the earliest and get used to driving in natural sunlight

[srishiva]

The SC gave a judgement to implement it from May 5. Now BTP have extended it upto to June 5. What kind of judgement and what kind of enforcement is this? No one cares about laws or judgement.

[supremeBaleno]

Awesome post, PatchyBoy!!!
And while I dont have sunfilm on my car(s) or done any power/tyre/bulb modifications, I also am guilty of various violations like most of us here - would be too many to list if one actually sits and introspects. But then our mistakes are ignored (knowingly or otherwise), while the mistakes of others have a way of standing out clearly.

One thing I see in some posts is about the competence/sanity of judges being mentioned in a bad way - not a good thing on an open forum and possibly making the poster liable for contempt of court. All I would say is exercise your opinion with care.

Now if only someone would file a PIL about the brighter than allowed headlights...

P.S.: While I dont use sunfilm, I do see the point by some people about "allergy to sun" which deserves merit. Maybe allowances can be made for such scenarios while staying within the VLT allowed, but this should be built-in in the glass (option from manufacturer). If we allow film for this, the interpretation will be by the sun-film seller and too much effort/money spent on cops to enforce.

[lohithrao]

Srishiva, you seem to be unhappy with the extension, you think about a week is good to implement any law? atleast i have not heard of any law being implemented in such a short span.

even if they put entire police force to do this, it may not have been possible. while all the serious offenses would have gone up thanks to the cops busy doing something else.

Originally Posted by srishiva

The SC gave a judgement to implement it from May 5. Now BTP have extended it upto to June 5. What kind of judgement and what kind of enforcement is this? No one cares about laws or judgement.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Srishiva, you seem to be unhappy with the extension, you think about a week is good to implement any law? atleast i have not heard of any law being implemented in such a short span.

even if they put entire police force to do this, it may not have been possible. while all the serious offenses would have gone up thanks to the cops busy doing something else.

The judgement was for the vehicle owners to remove them. You need 1 or 2 hours to do that. Police come into picture when the law is not followed by vehicle owners. They dont have to catch all of them at one go.

I have sunfilms and dont think this extension is any useful. If SC gives a judgement without giving any authority to police to determine when its should be implemented, this is a glaring non-compliance and just shows nothing is sacrosanct in our country.

It doesnt mean I am happy with the judgement

[lancer_rit]

my Lancer OEM windshield glass is (min) 75% VLT. This means Asahi does not claim it's 80% or 90%. That tells me that _any_ sunfilm on front and rear windshield is violating the CMVR regulations on 70% VLT!
I found the same on my friend's Getz. So, the sunfilm manufacturers and the sunfilm dealers (more so), have been fooling people into thinking they can apply 'legal' sunfilm on front and rear windshields!
On the side windows, 70% VLT film will work unless OEM tints cause lower VLT of combination than 50%...

[SLK]

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

Request to MODS: If you feel this is completely OT or inappropriate, please delete it. I am not trying to blame anyone or point fingers at anyone. Just some soul searching, thats all.

Is that your own story? If not, I think, its inappropriate and pure sarcasm.

For the record, I had legal tints. I've read through the relevant parts of motor vehicle act and rules before! I vote. I do not have HIDs and i don't use high beams.

PS: I dont want you to agree with me either, but lets talk only on merit of the Judgement but not of the SC or just don't!

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

I have done my part for this country, right? Afterall, I have a bumper sticker that says "Proud to be an Indian", shouldn't that suffice?

Yes, you've done your part for the country by collecting all the comments by affected parties and posting it under your pseudonym. That's a clever way of ridiculing people without doing so directly. My only wish is people should stop bringing in patriotism, jingoism, etc for each and everything. Instead a proper debate with scientific data will help the nation in all matters not just this sun-film issue.

In the past 1 year there were a few cases of rapes in moving cars. One in Calcutta, and a couple of cases in Delhi. These rapes happened because the cars had sunfilm, not because the crimnals had a wrong intention. So immediately someone files a PIL and because of those perverts, 3 crore people who travel by cars in India are penalised by not allowing to have sunfilms in their cars. Luckily someone didn't file PIL to ban all trawlers because Kasab came by one, and our "135 policemen per 100,000 citizen" can't patrol such a long coastline.

In the same peiod in Chennai alone MTC buses mowed down more than 100 citizens. If you add up the numbers from all cities the figure will be in thousands. The irresponsible drivers who did this, got just 2 weeks suspension from service, because the law says Government Employees can't be prosecuted under Criminal laws while on duty. Why no PILs for this grave injustice and no intervention by SC?

isn't this another case of misplaced priorities?

[Gansan]

Should the police not clamp down on the film installation outfits, under the circumstances?

[lohithrao]

Agree with you

but my point was their are so many laws which does not seem to have been implemented till date completely even if they have come in to power way back

few examples,

- number plates, i keep seeing so many new cars with those stylish number plates or small plates that one has to sand close and take a note of the number, if the authorities want these vehicles can be caught easily..

- Dark sunfilms, last few years its pretty common to spot dark films on all the glasses, this was illegal but dont think it was enforced at all..

- loud horn/reverse horn

- etc

Originally Posted by srishiva

The judgement was for the vehicle owners to remove them. You need 1 or 2 hours to do that. Police come into picture when the law is not followed by vehicle owners. They dont have to catch all of them at one go.

I have sunfilms and dont think this extension is any useful. If SC gives a judgement without giving any authority to police to determine when its should be implemented, this is a glaring non-compliance and just shows nothing is sacrosanct in our country.

It doesnt mean I am happy with the judgement

[selfdrive]

Playing to the gallery and ridiculing some other bhpians under the excuse of self deprecation now, are we?

In all this hullaballoo, what I dont understand is why the seriousness in implementing/ conducting this drive differs from city to city. After all the SC judgement/ ruling is applicable all across India.

From the media I can make out that in Bangalore the cops are going at it with all gusto, but in other cities this seems to be a bit laidback. Why are the Bangalore cops so enthusiatically doing this? Or why are the authorities in other cities so laidback?

Not sure which of the two questions is the more apt one. I am being forced to think enforcement of the ruling has different interpretations/ meaning depending on where we live.

[gtonsing]

I cant help but repost this from one of my facebook groups.
"There has been some doubt as to what the current yuga (Age as per ancient Indian Scriptures) is and whether it is actually Kali Yuga (the dark age or age of the demon/ vice. The current ruling of the Honorable Supreme Court has left us in no doubt that we are definitely in Kali Yuga. The characteristics of Kali Yuga are given in the scriptures as “the rulers will become uncaring, subject the citizens to unreasonable hardships and become a danger to the world. People will then migrate to countries where wheat and barley form the main food”. Today Indians who resisted migration and worked hard for their nation must while travelling in a car bear the brunt of the sun god, pay more for fuel bills (if you use AC) and blame it on your past karma that you were born here. But there is a positive side to the whole thing. By a single stroke of brilliance all incidence of kidnappings, rape and smuggling has been eliminated. Just check the newspapers over the coming months for proof of this if you don't believe me. In the next phase, it is proposed to ban kitchen knives, ropes and blades to prevent murders and suicides. Along with these hockey sticks, cricket bats, karate and kung fu will be banned. In the third phase petrol, diesel, kerosene, cooking gas and bottles (bottles are used by criminal elements to make petrol bombs) will be banned. Also, all buildings with more than one floor will be demolished to prevent people jumping/ getting pushed to their death. In the fourth and final phase, marriages will be banned to eliminate domestic violence and dowry harassment. All in-laws will be jailed as a preventive measure unless people opt for divorce within a prescribed time frame of 2 days and 3 hours. Only VVIPs with some prescribed category close to the last letter of the alphabet will be allowed to copulate and produce children as it has been conclusively found that it is babies that grow to become criminals. There are even rumours that the police force may be disbanded once these bans are in place since we are a poor country with limited resources. JAI HIND."

[snorting bull]

I checked with some of the traffic cops in Chennai(White caps). They don't seem to be aware of any dates though one of them said they have started peeling out in police cars. One of them asked me to call control tower and check. Will let you know if I get any information

[intothewild]

MODS, if you feel this is off-topic, please have it removed.

This may be OT, but have been reading a few posts (do not want to name it) in the thread that has termed voicing a honest opinion in an open forum as “contempt of court” while few others have attacked the basic right of a citizen (who isn’t so called “100%” perfect) to voice his opinion.

It assumes:

1. Everybody questioning the motive/rationale behind the judgment as someone who is an habitual traffic/road rule offender
2. They don’t drive stock cars (surprise!), drive arrogantly, blind the oncoming vehicle with HID and do such other stunts on the road
3. In a democracy, a citizen cannot freely express his opinion unless he has taken all the complicated procedures of writing to the authorities, filing RTI, PIL, met with the area councilor, local MLA, MP etc. etc.
4. Finally, never be worried about the privacy/safety of your wife/kid sitting inside a 100% VLT car while somebody stares from a bike or stationary bus less than a few centimeters away

Now, who am I?

I’m neither an intellectual nor a rich Indian, neither a politician nor a person with influence. No, I’m not a businessman. I’m just another common citizen who was born here, lived all my life here for the love of it, enjoy cricket and like everyone else cheer for India, read “The Hindu” and enjoy vehemently discussing politics with family at home and finally no, I’m not a globe trotter. Oh, before I forget, I did not buy a car for luxury (nor have I reached a stage where I call myself settled), but to travel with my family in a safe way.

But, I, do have paid my tax dues, was excited when I could get my first voter ID though disappointed when it arrived with a very poor photo and wrong data, went and voted in all the elections, drive responsibly on the roads, feel utterly cheated after paying exorbitant tolls, crawl over bad roads and the intense senseless road traffic.

Suddenly there comes a ruling that orders me to remove the sun-films, which according to the Honorable Supreme Court will magically make the police more efficient and make them super-heroes. No, the ruling doesn’t surprise me, but the implementation does. I watch as the policemen stop cars, fine them, challan them and forcibly strip off the sun-films off the cars. La behold, they have became the ultimate custodian of the laws within a matter of few days.

No, I shouldn’t question why they can’t implement other laws and make the roads safer for everybody. I shouldn’t be frustrated that there are errant government buses that jump signals and drive wrecklessly, that there are auto-rickshaws that fleece customers, that there are policemen at road sides pocketing bribes, that licenses are issued in the most careless manner, that there are dangerous company cabs driving on the roads, that are no roads in many parts of the city, that I have to scrape my car every time I pass over an un-marked, “un-scientific” speed breakers, that I’m a sitting duck every time I’m on the road.

But, then who am I to voice my opinion; I’m just an ordinary citizen that is out here. No, I will not voice my opinion, not even in an internet forum, for I fear contempt of court. So, I will simply shut up, bend over and let them screw me. Because I’m a “GOOD” citizen and I will only react once in 5 years.