The Ambulance

For a person living in Bangalore and travelling across the city every day for work, traffic jams and ambulances on the road are as common as engineers in our country. Over the years, I've gotten used to travelling just 24 kilometers for well over 90 to 100 minutes- in fact, most Bangaloreans are.

Majority of the Indian roads are bad and narrow, so much so that even if the drivers want to clear way for the ambulance, they are unable to; worse when it comes to signals. The unified blaring horn acts as a signal for the traffic police who comes to the rescue altering the vehicle flow by switching signals.

Something that struck me as interesting was how different people react to the ambulances on road. Some people help the situation and some people are the cause of the situation. Based on what I've seen, I would divide them broadly into 5 categories.

1. The Selfish Soul: This is one who grabs on to the opportunity at the sight of an ambulance and drives right behind it to skip signals and avoid traffic. This is the guy in class who'd sit and watch you beg the entire school for a pencil even if he had a spare one.

2. The Initiator: The first guy who voluntarily comes up to regulate the traffic and clear way for the ambulance is the initiator. These people are generally those who are naturally comfortable in such situations- within them lies an inherent, most times unexplored potential for leadership.

3. The Disciple: This is the one who walks up and joins the initiator. He needs someone to break the ice before he can exhibit leadership and responsibility, neither of which is absent without a leader. In simple terms, these are people who'll be effective followers.

4. The Praying Mouth: One who does nothing to alleviate the situation in hand but hopes and prays for the health of the injured; not exactly useless but not exactly  useful in an atheist's point of view. These are typically goodhearted people who are powerless in the current situation.

5. The Blamers: Those who blame the government for bad roads, drivers for poor driving skills, policeman for not clearing way and even the initiator for any follies he makes comprise of the Blamers. They are of no use to the situation nor are they for the society.

The scenario of an ambulance on road is just an example of the happenings in the macrocosm of this world. In any public situation, be rest assured to find all these personalities. They are always there, doing what they naturally do...