Nerve Endings Firing Away

A real-life incident in Japan:

“This happened on the JR Chuo line this morning. A guy made a dash for the train door and the door almost closed but he pried it open. A train conductor announced “rushing to get on the train is dangerous so please be careful.” This is the normal announcement. But then he went on to say: “You alone will be responsible if you are seriously injured”.

Hmm a new comment was added today. Another customer who heard this announcement complained to JR and JR apologized: “We apologize for his inconsiderate comments”. But the the train conducter in question said “His rushing was so bad, it caused me to make an emotional comment.” [via Boing Boing]

This incident reminds me of the time we traveled to Kashmir in the late eighties (the period just before Pakistan decided to poke its nose into our affairs on a full-time basis). We had rented a car for our entire trip; with a local driver included in the rental deal, as usually is the case in India. We had a narrow escape when our car nearly collided with a shepherd dashed across the road chasing his goats. The driver screeched to a halt and we expected a stream of choicest Kashmiri abuses. But we were surprised to hear the driver say in his most polite tone, “bhai saab kya aapko marna hai” (sir, do you wish to die?) The saab and aapko made us shake our heads in disbelief. We experienced a similar incident also while driving through Himachal Pradesh.

Now, cut that scene to Bombay or any other metro. The driver nearly gets killed by bystanders if he even misses a pedestrian by a mile. The pehle-maaro-phir-pucho (hit first, ask later) concept is almost universally accepted as a form of instant mob justice for an errant driver. Imagine the above mentioned incident in a Bombay local. I can’t imagine, even for a moment, the local railways apologizing for even killing a commuter let alone being rude to him. It is often a game between the public transit operator and the poor commuter. Give him hope that he can catch the bus/train and drive off when he just makes it to the door. All part of being in Bombay, I guess.