Roughly 250,000 Indians die every year in road accidents. That’s 685 people every day, 28 people every hour. More than half of these 28 people are on 2 wheelers, cycles, scooters, scooties, bikes. Most of them are stupid cunts that don’t pay attention to basic road safety techniques or etiquette.
Or are they?
It’s really easy to say “Oh she must’ve been without a helmet”, “I bet he was riding on the wrong side”, “They race on public roads and then blame others”, and unfortunately in many cases it might even be true. But how do you make sense of a situation where a rider more experienced than you, more aware of the bike’s and his own limits than you, more skilled at the art of handling a motorcycle than you, ends up in a fatal crash?
Surviving Indian roads is a lot trickier than you might imagine.
Helmet, jacket, gloves, boots, pants, help minimize the damage, so does ABS and other electronic aides. But nothing can save you from the single most dangerous threat to a rider’s life, something that’s totally out of anybody’s control, something that cannot be predicted, reasoned with, or fought against.
Being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I’ve said it more times in the past that I would like to admit, that India is a horrendous country to be a biker in. Riding is an inherently dangerous passion, and the danger is part of the charm. It’s exciting, it’s mental, but most importantly, it’s the wrong thing to do. Everybody around you tells you to stop, every experience you have everyday tells you to stop, but you still throw every logic out the window and keep at it, because it feels like being a rebel, it helps you make some sense out of an ordinary existence.
However, as ordinary as it may be, your existence is not yours alone. Your family, friends, they all are part of it, and your actions affect them. Which is why it’s so difficult to mark a line between following your heart and being a selfish asshole.
Nobody can contest the fact that riding a bike is risky, but then what the hell isn’t? You could be sleeping peacefully in your bed, away from all the troubles of existence, dreaming about a long life free of all danger and trouble, and a fucking jet ploughs through your window, kills you in an instant of deafening blasts and fiery inferno. People die in bullet-proof cars, unsinkable ships, uncrashable planes, all the time.
So then again, why do good bikers die?
Good bikers die because there is no God, there is no logic to human life, there are no rules. Good bikers die because everyone does, one way or other. Good bikers die because life isn’t fair.
Many people try to console themselves by saying “He died doing what he loved”. Sure he did, but that doesn’t make it any less tragic. Some others say “Whatever short existence he had on this planet, he spent it well”. Can’t deny that, but who decided his existence had to be this short?
For some reason that I don’t really understand, things seem fun when there’s a chance that they might go wrong. You can either have a perfectly cocooned life, free from all risk, padded against any possible threat, or you can actually live. They are mutually exclusive, with the only common thing between them being death, and its inevitability.
There’s no dearth of clichés that can be blurted in such a situation, but the fact remains that there are things you can’t explain, there are things that make you realize how insignificant you are, how powerless, and there are things that make you think about how inconsequential everything is.
I don’t believe in luck, or fate, or destiny, because all they do is make you trust that you don’t control your own life. As obvious a fact as that may be, I choose to remain ignorant to it. What’s the point of being when all you do is follow the current? But then again, what’s the point of anything? You could be a Noble prize-winning philanthropist billionaire tech overlord heart-surgeon MotoGP world champion tea-stall owner, but you’ll die too. People will love you and praise you and remember you when you are dead, but you’ll be dead.
I think I now understand why people buy into the ridiculous delusions of religion. Whatever helps you push through life, no matter how moronic, damaging, or psychotic, is a blessing. Truth is always painful, and there’s no bravery in facing the fire of life head-on, when ultimately it’s all in your head.
I guess the only thing you can say for sure in this chaotically unhinged world is that good bikers die because they live.
Hey Akhil, could you upload the “how to buy a bike” article along with the laptop comparison table?
Will do next week.
So true…
Religion is not ridiculous delusion but It have healthy effect on human mind and psychology and Sigmund freud have been proven wrong scientifically. Sigmund freud alleged that religious belief was a kind of mental sickness, and maintained that religious beliefs would disappear as man progressed. It emerged that Freud’s theories in particular had almost no scientific foundations. It was also realised that contrary to the claims of Freud and certain other psychological theoreticians, religion is a fundamental of mental health. The American writer Patrick Glynn sums up these important developments:
Scientific research in psychology over the past twenty-five years has demonstrated that, far from being a neurosis or source of neuroses, as Freud and his disciples claimed, religious belief is one of the most consistent correlates of overall mental health and happiness. Study after study has shown a powerful relationship between religious belief and practice, on the one hand, and healthy behaviors with regard to such problems as suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, divorce, [and] depression… on the other. For more info you can visit following site.
http://www.harunyahya.com/en/Documentaries/1244/the-collapse-of-atheism
Couldn’t give a shit.
Agreed.
P.S. The TOI article on him is full of a couple of shit heads. I so want to bring those guys over here and rip em a new one.
Just head over there and laugh at the ignorance of the haters
I haven’t read a newspaper in years man, it’s just too depressing to see that shit.
You could be a Noble prize-winning philanthropist billionaire tech overlord heart-surgeon MotoGP world champion tea-stall owner, but you’ll die too.
This line cracked me up.
I’m imagining Valentino Rossi sitting on an armchair made out of piles of cash wearing a surgeon’s overalls, with an electronic tea stall (whatever that is) by his side.
🙂
look to no one , no religion , no book, no god for answers to those questions which have no meaning…..we exist cause we exist, we die cause we die.
wrong place and wrong time, might catch up wid us at any place and at any point…till its not ..live life wid family and friends , wid joys and sorrows.
True.
Birth and Death do not occurs by accident. Your god is accident hence your talking rootless sentence “We exist cause we exist, we die cause die”. Every thing in universe are govern by physical and natural laws. These laws were made by One true monotheistic God. Without one God there will be inconsistency in physical and natural laws. The functions of day and night, rotation of planets and stars with precise discipline will not be possible without one God. Accident or so called sentence “we exist cause we exist, we die cause we die” will not bring consistent, precise functioning of our earth, Sun Moon and Universe so Accident or so called rootless sentence “we exist cause we exist, we die cause we die” is just lame execute to deny truth.
Religious people/bikers will have a hard time explaining themselves on this article. Not their fault, it’s how religion is fed to their disciples, Not to question/think/ask. And also i don’t buy senseless logics these religious people throw, “Even God need Good people, hence He/She took him/her.” A simple non-intelligent observation around is enough to conclude that God doesn’t give a shit about Right or Wrong like these mortals like all to believe.
After seeing fucked up things and reaching the age of reason, I’ve given up on Religion/God and other psychotherapeutic concepts human conceived as per their convenience/ego.
Ive had the same quest and still does since long about putting things in perspective as to why Good things Fail and Bad things Prevail or vice versa. How can i avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’ve come to perpetually embrace (with open mind) and observation that the State of Mind you are in or are consistently in will largely influence via butterfly effect, the probability of you being in the right or wrong place/time.
As you might have observed, I’m just another dude out their trying to survive, with just another psychotherapeutic concept/belief to make sense of my being.
The only difference though is I have an open mind(ready to learn/rectify) and I don’t fucking bully/threat/guilt-rid anyone to follow mine.
I empathise with you in this moment
Regards,
Vinzy
Agreed!
another funny as shit quote i have heard
If things go your way – God is great
if things dont – God had a plan and it was not this!!!
WTF!!!
Thanks man, this shit is hard to digest.
Earth is trail place hence good and bad thing exist. God creates thing with combination of good and evil for testing hence you find good and bad things here. Although bad thing increase in beginning but ultimately it will be destroyed.There were many ancient powerful civilizations that were destroyed by wrath of God such as “Egyptian Pharaohs of Pyramid” and nation of Sodom. Now in contemporary time we are also in danger zone. See we have developed fatal weapons like atom bomb, hydrogen bombs, chemical and bio chemical weapons and missile that are used to drop these bombs. God knows What we will to us with these weapons. In future human may use these fatal weapon to kill humanity. This may be wrath of God manifested in this way.
RIP mihir chadha
And that’s just life man
We can’t even answer why we’re here and without that answer we can’t even think about answering why we die or the larger consequence of dying.
I have seen smokers live up to their 90s and athletes drop dead due to a heart attack at 40. Like you said, there no rules in this world
There are none.