Perspective: Have we lost it?

It's a matter of perspective. When there is an earthquake, the usual warnings suggest that you mosey on far away from buildings. Why? Because they are big, huge things. If they fall on you, they cause pain and grief. However, no one says that during an earthquake stay away from, um... say a fountain pen. It isn't about to shatter into a million shards that will invade your sorry carcass. At worst, you'll end up with a splattered shirt. Right?

That's just a matter of perspective.

When it is this easy to grasp something so simple, why the heck do I see people on motorcycles taking chances with trucks and buses on a daily basis? It's like someone forgot to tell them that their all-up weight of 200-odd kgs is a matchstick in front of a 15-ton behemoth with bad brakes. That even the faintest of contact would probably be serious to fatal.

The other day, I was in a rick coming back from the airport and this autorickshaw driver basically hung a left sharpish across the nose of a fully loaded, sand-filled truck. We were ducking under a flyover (which I'd told him about three km in advance would be a good move, navigation wise), and the truck man was heading up the bridge.

I distinctly remember the staccato hissing of the brakes fighting to slow the mass of the truck. If the truck hadn't slowed, this blog would be history. Hey, who's that who yelled hurray?

This isn't just an obvious thing, not to realise it is just plain suicidial. Now and then, you will get squeezed in a bit between a bus or something. If you come away unscratched, please, don't try to teach the driver a lesson. It's an argument you cannot win.

Like General Hummel said in The Rock, 'Your unit is covered from an elevated position, Commander. I'm not gonna ask you again. Don't do anything stupid. No-one has to die here.'