When Nooria Haveliwala was drinking her last peg on the 29th of January, she probably thought-like most of us-that she would get away. Not even in her worst nightmare would she have seen the horrible consequences of her incredible drunkenness. Two people died and some others got injured. She herself escaped unhurt.
Lots of different things have been reported in the media which is essentially not important. What is important though, is the kind of culture that is being promoted in our metro cities. With swelling population and growing salaries so many people don't really know where to spend all the money. Pubs and bars offering cheap liquor are sprouting across cities. Bangalore has such a high density of pubs it will probably accommodate every software engineer living there. And I'm not sure whether I'm exaggerating or not which is saying something. I myself have often been the pillion rider with a drunk friend. Despite my protestations, the friend in question shrugs and reminds me of India's latest position on the bribery index. I have been fortunate in that I have never been caught. A friend who was caught once was let off without any action whatsoever. People believe they can get away with being drunk. If you can get drunk, you can surely pay your way out of a ticket. That, in my opinion, is the core of the problem. The drinking culture that is being developed is very worrisome.
Advocating caution is just not going to deter people. An offender needs to know that he will be punished if he breaks the law. It is difficult to foresee a future with restrictions on pubs/bars and drinking in general. In fact the right solution for this kind of recklessness would be to nip it in the bud; going the prevention-is-better-than-cure way. Lets not even get to the point where a drunk person takes the wheel. Lets totally avoid needing a policeman to find out if one is drunk or not. For me, a viable solution is the bar arranging a bus for all those drunk over the limit and recovering the money as part of a refundable entry/cover charge. If we can't beat the culture problem then we must join in and find a remedy. The sooner, the better.
3 comments:
that noorie incident made me think too.. wont get behind the wheel (rather my bikes handle) when im drunk..
But I feel the rules are already very strict in mumbai. AFAIK, it is difficult to get away w/o being punished if you are caught driving while drunk. This may not be the case in other cities. Infact they should follows mumbai's model of strict vigilence.
".. recklessness would be to nip it in the bud"
heres a pj for you: bud gaya to tuborg hi sahi \m/
Post a Comment