Re: Dangerous tiff with a KSRTC driver and walking away with a heavy loss + heavy heart Quote:
Originally Posted by GKR9900
Absolutely! He was actually telling me to let it go right from the start, but I didnt comply. Adrenaline got the better of me. And I put him in a difficult spot too as all he could do was support me amidst those people, even though I was in the wrong too. What is even worse is that the Elantra is primarily used by my dad and he maintains it in such immaculate condition. And I hate it that I caused damage due to my irresponsible behaviour. Although afterwards he told me that to err is human, and I shouldnt be too hard on myself, this feeling inside remains nah...that I could have avoided it. Anyways, only after getting the Elantra repaired and handing her over to dad, have I rejoined work. |
Just as I thought. Your family would never want you to get into a sticky mess. There is a saying, never start a fight you can't finish. Commercial drivers are mostly brash bully types. You have more to lose than they have. They spend most of their time on road and are generally on a short fuse. Extremely touch and go. You don't want to mess with them. But, don't worry. Every bully eventually meets his match. Like they say, meek will inherit the earth. Unruly types will shoot one another out.
Your ordeal takes me back to an incident I had in the summer of 2009. I was with my wife and parents in my Lancer and this RTC bus driver was honking and breathing down my neck in the thick of the evening traffic. What got me fuming was, he could clearly see from his high perch above that I was tailgating a long line of vehicles myself. But, he would try to overtake me at any cost which he did eventually but grazing my car in the process. It was extremely mild. Not even paint peeled off. It was nothing that couldn't be fixed with a light hammer smack from the other side. But, my ego was bruised more than the car and I passed him and cut him off and stopped him. A younger me, back then, blocked traffic in the fit of a rage. It was closer to intersection so the traffic cop came running. The second cop was directing the traffic around the bus while the first cop was enquiring what all the fuss about was. You will be shocked to know that eventually the cop sided up with the bus driver and let him drive away. I was furious and got into argument with the cop. It is then the second cop came over and explained to me that it was for my own good. He said, I could file a complain with police but no good would come off it. RTC has a legal cell to represent the driver and it is their daily job to attend to hearings and arguments and police stations. But, I, on the other hand, would be running form pillar to post and this is not what I do on a daily basis or for a living. He said, only those cases which involve injury , loss of life or serious damage to other vehicle are looked into seriously, and mine did not fall under any. It would be a waste of time, he said. I swallowed my pride, got into car and drove off. But, the worst wasn't over yet. More than that driver and the cop, it was my family that I had to face like a criminal. I was greeted with a sullen silence in the car and no one spoke a word. When I got back home, my wife didn't speak with me until next day noon. She said heavy words like, this is not the man I married. My parents asked me if this is how they raised me. I never saw that bus driver before or since but it ruined the mood of a family for quite some days.
We are bhpians. Not members of the underworld that we can take on anyone. Some members feel differently. I did too, long long ago. But like they say, with age comes wisdom. And, like I said, never get into a mess you can't wriggle out of with your pride, body and soul intact. :-) People get shot at for something as small as honking or overtaking. And, lastly, if it helps, these commercial drivers happen to be on the clock. They have a tight schedule to keep. Unlike most of us teambhpians, they are not driving for fun or recreation. They make a living out of that. And, those rickety buses are devoid of any creature comforts. Not supporting them at all, but we may spare a thought for them. Then, you would realize that we are indeed a blessed lot. I agree, we do get wronged by others on our roads on a regular basis and that brings our blood to boil. But, try to be like a zen monk. Be impervious to pain or pleasure, smile and move on. :-) |