Social responsibility is a myth

First of all let me ask you something - what do think of, when someone asks you to define 'social responsibility'. Is it being actually socially responsible or acting that you are socially responsible to all who are in front of you? believe me, 99% are pseudos and fakers.

You hear people honking behind you for no reason, speed up way past the speeding limit, throw things from the top floor of your building into your ground floor area, spit on the road, throw items in the river, pee in front of every available space, and the list goes on and on - is this social responsibility? and most of them turn up for a clean Yamuna drive or fight for youth equality? or a protest against the judicial system..oxymoron

What prompted me to write this today? 8:45 AM, driving from Delhi to Noida via the DND toll. Just after the Yamuna bridge there are barricades, to prevent speeding so the traffic suddenly slows down and in certain 'Michael Schumacher - wannabe' cases, the car bumpers exchange paints. I was approaching this area and suddenly i see a rush of cars much ahead of me stopping frantically. I thought...damn another accident..maybe they don't block the road enough and we can pass through.

I admit, i did not think of who is hurt, who is not, I just thought - I am getting late for office. Looking back I feel bad about not thinking about anything else but being so self absorbed.

In a fraction of a second, I was shocked to see what was happening up front - I was towards the left and had a good view. A bike had crashed, an infant was lying on the road and not moving (luckily no cars were in that lane). The mother was lying face down on the ground a few meters ahead and not moving, only the father was frantically picking himself up and running towards the both of them. A motorist stopped - picked up the kid immediately and took him in his arms. I was GLAD to see the kid crying! I will refrain to mention the exact details of the injuries here, but they were a lot for a small kid.

I instinctively just stopped the car around 10 meters away from the accident scene - lot of people were stopping and just looking at the entire chaos - 'yaar kya ho gaya', 'koi maar ke gaya hoga', 'yeh sale bike wale aise hi chalaten hain', 'side hato late ho raha hun' all wierd comments were being passed and I quietly approached the accident site. I just signaled to biker and told him 'get them to my car - I will drive to a hospital' he thanked me like crazy and I said 'fuck it - just get them in asap!' people stopped - still looking and rushing past a few of them - social responsibility is non-existent for some corporate jungle dwellers.

I did not have to go a long distance as the guards on the wireless told me that drive to toll both and an ambulance is waiting there already. I drove and reached there and just got the family in the ambulance and then moved on to my office as nothing had happened.

I did not think of writing this until after that incident, while driving alone from the toll booth to office I thought of a few things - the kid crying the lady in agony the father literally holding his kid close to his heart and holding his wife's hand - telling her 'do not close your eyes - keep speaking to me' I was thinking - it can be anyone of us and will you stop and help out ever?

Its easy to say yes - but a lot more difficult to actually do it. Please help others in need and make sure you know your social responsibility. Its the only thing which separates you from the crowd.

amen