Mr President, Do Ensure We Are Not Stuck in a Jam Because of You

A resident of Dehradun shares his ordeal when he was stuck in jam due to President Pranab Mukherjee’s convoy.

Dear President Pranab Mukherjee,

As you embark on the last leg of your successful tenure as the President of India, I wish you all the very best. Your luminous political career is an inspiration for many aspiring politicians. Your unswerving stamina and dedication astonishes many across the country.

I hope your unwavering commitment to serve the people of this country does not fade as you demit office and move from the sprawling environs of the Rashtrapati Bhavan to a modest bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi.

Relocating from Delhi to Dehradun

I reside in the tiny town of Dehradun where your elaborate Presidential Retreat, Ashiana, is located. You were here on 10 July, and this is the reason I am writing this open letter to you. Please pardon my criticism.

I consider myself to be a relatively simple fellow. I run my errands at odd hours to avoid crowds. This means that I buy groceries when the world is busy at office, I jog when people are at work, I choose to watch movies on a weekday, and I frequent Dehradun club on Tuesday or Thursday when people choose to refrain from alcohol and meats. Both of us consciously decided to relocate to Dehradun. We found life in Delhi to be too chaotic.

My wife is nine months pregnant. We are so accustomed to avoid chaos in our lives that the decision to choose the gynecologist was also based on convenience. Her clinic is across the road from our house. Doctor appointments are simple.

The receptionist gives me a call when the patient preceding her goes for the appointment. It is a simple arrangement. But when you touched down in this mystical valley, your convoy wreaked havoc across town.

Also Read: Ambulance Carrying Bleeding Child Halted for VIP Movement in Delhi

Havoc During President’s Visit

Tulika, my wife, has intense cravings these days. Being a weekday, we decided to visit a restaurant, which is located much before your retreat. The timing suited me because not many people frequent restaurants on a Monday afternoon. But all through the meal I found myself getting increasingly anxious and uncomfortable.

Our table was located next to the window. As we began our sumptuous meal, I could not help but notice that the traffic was building up. To add to the chaos, the rain gods unleashed their fury. Oh, why am I telling you. You were there!

You may call it built-up stress or a profound fear of things going wrong when they should not.

Upon seeing the serpentine traffic jam which your convoy caused, my wife began to feel a little uncomfortable. The pang of anxiety I endured was unprecedented. I am an agnostic, but I beseeched the Lord to make sure nothing goes wrong. I mean what option did we have?

Driving in a long traffic jam did not seem a wise option. I could have called the 108 number, but trust me, the ambulance would have not reached where we were.

Meanwhile her feet began to swell. How long can you expect a pregnant woman to wait? I have never felt so helpless and desperate in my life. I had no option but to gently lift her and drive in swelling traffic. The journey home took us over an hour. It was a grueling experience, and no one in a modern democracy should endure such an ordeal.

Also Read: ‘Every Indian is a VIP’: PM Modi After ‘Lal Batti’ Ban on Vehicles

Inconvenience to Aam Aadmi

You may be the first citizen of India but your life is certainly not more important than anyone else. Your convoy is notorious for causing traffic jam around the country. Many innocents do end up getting stuck, and they have to endure road rage in the process. Surely there is a more organised way to deal with this issue which repeats itself on a regular basis.

In many of your speeches, you have emphasised the need to improve the infant mortality rate around the country; more specifically in rural India. It seems like a distant dream to me when we cannot even ensure that a pregnant woman reaches the hospital in time in the state capital. This is preposterous.

Every year we lose countless lives because many patients do not reach the hospital in time. Traffic jams created due to VIP movement is a disconcerting truth of modern life. I urge you to ensure that civilian life is not affected every time you travel.

Even citizens need to learn to give way to an ambulance, but if you make a commitment to ensure that your security concerns are handled in a more public-friendly manner, then this will definitely serve as a precedent. Meanwhile, my wife is now in better spirits, and we swore to not venture out far after our agonising experience.

Yours Sincerely,

Ishaan Saxena

Also Read: Would Banning Red Beacons Spell the Death of the VIP Culture?

(The writer is a socio economic commentator. He can be reached @ishaansaxena. This is a personal blog and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

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