This incident happened at around 12:30 PM near Hongkong Bazar,
Gurgaon today while I was returning to home. At one of the traffic signals the
traffic was moving slowly. I found some gap in front of a car and overtook it
from right side leaving enough gap behind me. I suddenly felt an impact on my
bike from rear and my bike fell towards the right side. I managed to land on my
palms and nothing happened as I was wearing gloves and helmet. The driver was a
woman who came out of the car apologizing for this mistake. Another woman came
out of the car. I saw two kids sitting in the co-driver’s seat. The driver lady
told me that the kids were playing and they did something which made the car go
out of her control. I was still listening to her while looking at the tail
light of my bike which had completely broken.
I asked her to calm down and told her politely that as its her
mistake I am not going to pay for the damage which she has caused. So she
wanted to give me Rs. 500 for the broken tail light. I said I can’t take Rs.
500 because I need to call the service guy to ask for the replacement cost. I
told her I don’t want to take extra money in case the total cost of replacement
is less than Rs. 500 so going by what’s fair, let’s call the service guy.
Meanwhile the lady called her husband who was supposedly very ‘knowledgeable’
guy and he advised her not to give more than 300Rs. for this damage. Mind you I
kept my voice low and was talking to her with utmost politeness trying to solve
the matter peacefully. She kept saying “galti toh sabse ho jati hai bacche hain
hamara bhi nuksan hua hai” (Everybody makes mistakes, kids don’t know anything
and it has caused damage to their car too). I tried to tell them yes your
damage is because of your own mistake and not mine, and my damage is also
because of your mistake. She kept saying that 90% of bikers are rash drivers
they had caused damage to her car in past. I wondered why this woman is
bringing all that up right now? I tried to tell her that yes there are rash
drivers and I am not one of them, and in this case she was the one who didn’t
pay attention on road and caused damage to both of our vehicles. I told her she
can’t blame me for the damages caused to her car in past by other bikers.
Meanwhile I found out from the service guy that the total cost of replacement
will be around Rs 1000 (800rs. part cost and 250rs. labor charges)
Her voice kept getting louder and she turned even more rude as we
discussed, at least I tried to. While I thought this matter can be solved
peacefully, I decided to take a step back and told her I am ready to bear 50%
of the cost and demanded 500rs. To this the other lady told me, “why don’t you
fit any regular part from road side mechanic? 1000rs. is too much, may be you
called your own friend and not service center, may be you are telling us a fake
amount”. I was shocked to be blamed like this and this made me
angry. I realized that these women are not accepting to have a polite and
logical discussion. She was not listening to me and went on talking how she
will not give more than Rs.300.
It was almost 25 mins since all this had been going on. She said
she is getting late as if I was ready to spend the whole day in arguing. I was
hell bent that she gives me 50% of the replacement cost and which I thought was
completely fair in that situation. She started to move and sat inside her car
but I held the car door demanding a fair compensation for the damage. She said
“do you want 300rs. or not?, don’t create a scene here in public” in a VERY
rude manner in front of her kids. At this very moment I decided to teach her a
lesson. I said “yes, give me 300”, and said, “here , this is your money”, and
threw it up in the air on road. I told her that she talking this rudely is very
bad influence on her kids. I walked back to my bike in and didn’t even care to
look back. Went straight to the service.
There at the service I found that even the rear mudguard will need
to be replaced which will cost me another Rs.500.
This incident leaves me in disgust and the attitude of people
towards people on a motorcycle is what worries me. In this whole argument,
these women had blamed me for quoting a fake amount, being in category of 90%
of bikers who ride rash and cause damage to vehicles and run away (which hurt
me the most), assuming I am the kind of guy who is trying to extract out money
from people who drive a ‘car’, and their general attitude and unwillingness to
have a polite and logical discussion to solve the issue. All this when
it was their mistake. I have taken picture of the number plate but I am not
writing this to make this post go viral or something. I am sharing this because
I am hurt by the attitude of people towards bikers. They think they can cause
damages like these and offer 200rs. in compensation and it will solve
everything. NO. What’s important is that you give respect to others on road and
be ready to accept your mistake if you have committed one. Bikers are not
trying to rob you mam. Showing wrong attitude towards such arguments and
blaming others for being cheap is what you should stop doing. Who knows
someday, a biker might help you when your car is stranded in the middle of
nowhere.
Ride Safe
0 comments :
Post a Comment