You are born innocent, but the world forces you to be otherwise cos you cant survive in this world if you are too good, innocent or merciful. Let me describe something that happened to me a few months ago.
Me and my friend Arun was driving from Ernakulam to Trivandurm. We stopped at a Red signal at Cherthala and the car behind hit our car. Arun got out of the car and asked the other driver to pull over. It was a family with 2 males, a lady and a child.
My back bumper was seriously damaged as it was a direct hit. I called up my regular workshop and asked him about the cost involved in repairing it. He told me that a new bumper would cost 10,000 Rs, but if the damage is minimum he can repair it for 3000 Rs.
I told the car owners that I dont want to file a case and the repair charges would be 3000 Rs and they can consult any workshop if they dont trust me. They were surprised to hear the amount 3000 and they started making arguments. They were saying it was my mistake that I stopped at a RED signal…. how funny..
Then the lady in the car came out and started the typical girl stuff, nonsense combined with emotion and loud noise. They started saying they dont have any money with them. They were still trying to establish that it was my mistake to stop at a signal.
Then Arun called a friend of his and asked for advice. He asked us to go to the nearest police station and lodge a complaint. Then the lady became violent saying that they are a family and we are torturing them, and that they need to get home before its too late etc etc.
I maintained a stand that I dont want to put them into trouble with a police complaint and all, but I wanted to get the bumper repaired. I requested them to come with me to the nearest workshop to asses the damage. But they were not willing to do that.
While this argument was happening the child started crying. The family got into the vehicle saying that they dont have anything to do with this and prepared to leave. I went and blocked the vehicle. A few people were watching all this drama and they also joined the family asking me to let them go cos they “looked” very genuine. I had to succumb to the pressure and let them go. A mistake which I will never repeat again.
They gave me a phone number and said they will bring the money where ever I want and asked me to let them go with out any police complaint.
Next day morning I tried calling that number and nobody picked up. I tried again and someone disconnected the call. The phone was switched off when I tried again. This routine repeated every day for the next one month and I stopped calling that number.
I feel really bad, a family cheated me. I had to spend 10,000 Rs to get that bumper replaced. Lesson learned, never show mercy, never show any mercy, not even to children, ladies or elders. When it comes to money never expect people to be trust worthy.
And now some details about the vehicle which I got from the government website.
Registration KL – 03 Q 8413
Vehicle – Metallic Wine Red, Maruti Alto
Owner – HARIPRASAD C R
poor kenney..btw post the phone number also..njan oru investigation nadatham..:P
Comment by Milan — August 18, 2009 @ 10:18 am
This happens only in India..
Comment by Anupam Gupta — August 18, 2009 @ 10:20 am
If we are merciful, a very people appreciate this as a favor done to them. Most others start taking advantage of this. After going through similar experiences like the one you described above, I have also arrived at similar conclusion – “never show mercy”.
Comment by Unnikrishnan KP — August 18, 2009 @ 10:22 am
This is ridiculous!!! You shouldn’t have let them go Kenney!! People like that don’t deserve mercy!! You should have called the highway police then & their and get the things straight!!
People just take u for a ride when u show mercy!! I think toward people like this you need to keep a “come what may, I want my things to be done attitude!”
Comment by Neenz — August 18, 2009 @ 10:38 am
That’s very childish to say that “never show mercy, never show any mercy, not even to children, ladies or elders” based on a single incident in your life.
When you started realizing that those people are not going to pay Rs:3000 as you requested, you should have immediately called police. If they are trying to drive away from the scene, the best thing to do is to collect as much information as possible to identify them and their vehicle and then go to a police station with a complaint. I don’t think trying to block their car in a public road was a good idea!
And you didn’t tell us whether you were driving too fast to get over the signal before it turned red, and had to suddenly stop.
Comment by Sameer C Thiruthikad — August 18, 2009 @ 10:48 am
Couldn’t you also take a couple of snaps of those people ? It would be more effective than posting just the number of the car and the names.
Comment by V — August 18, 2009 @ 11:07 am
@Sameer
I was not driving fast and there were many cars infront of me who stopped. This driver fellow was a newbie. And BTW… even if I was driving fast.. that is not an excuse for hitting from behind.
Comment by Kenney Jacob — August 18, 2009 @ 2:08 pm
Its not prudent to generalize things like that Kenny, even though you’ve been tricked into submission here.
Well you have the details and I’m sure some of your readers from Pathanamthitta could help you find this person
But what are you going to do then? He could very well deny the allegations..
Comment by scorpiogenius — August 18, 2009 @ 3:09 pm
u shud have filed a case..
btw when did this happen???
Comment by Varun Anand — August 18, 2009 @ 3:55 pm
Anyways I am not interested in pursuing this any more. I could have filed a hit and run case and still could have put them into trouble. I blogged because I wanted my readers to be careful when dealing with accident cases.
Comment by Kenney Jacob — August 18, 2009 @ 7:08 pm
Hi Kenny,
I’ve been one of your silent admirers until now.
I totally appreciate your blog and in my mind have nodded along with you all the time. I feel sort of humiliated when you said, “started the typical girl stuff, nonsense combined with emotion and loud noise”.
Yes, I am a woman, I do get non sensical, I do get emotional and heck if I thinks omething is wrong I do make loud noise, but my question is it typical girl stuff??
What about the guys who were arguing? Is it typical guy stuff to argue when one is wrong, is it typical of all guys to fight and be hormonal?
Think about it Ken,and the rest of you go ahead brand me a feminist and make sure you mouth some of Suresh Gopi+ Mohanlal+ Shaji Kailas style dialouges.
Btw: I do empathize with you and have been a victim of such accidents myself. So I know exactly how that feels.
Comment by Gayatri — August 18, 2009 @ 8:46 pm
It is True that typical girl stuff do exist.. sometimes i have seen it in different occasions .. ladies do try to get some advantage with sentiments… The lady should have shut up.. if she wasn’t the driver what was her role in that… she should not have even got out of the car. Why the hell should she come out of the Car and start crying and make the child cry.. She did it just to escape from the situation.. I’m Sure if it was not for that “started the typical girl stuff, nonsense combined with emotion and loud noise” kenney would have filed a complaint with the police and things would have been on proper track ..
I don’t believe it is a rare case.. many cases like this do happens and most of the time nothing comes out to public domain.
I do believe We should not show mercy to someone based on sex and Age.
Comment by Ranjith — August 19, 2009 @ 12:05 pm
I couldn’t help laughing reading this post honestly. It looked very much Sharuhkanish like how he was mistreated in Newark and how he described his ordeal in typical Bollywood fashion with all the masalas thrown in I mean you know Kenney Jacob has a blog and he is a hotshot in the blogosphere so he cries and many console him and cry along, basically in a country like India all these nonsense happen like the one that happened to Kenney Jacob ( oh comon 900 crore rupees went missing from the public coffers in the name of fodder at one go still no one bothered its your money,my money did any one bother?) so many people face much more hardships which pisses you off its like crying for a lollipop which tintumon grabbed from you while in L.K.G and as for Gayathri above, Lady no one has put tears and emotion to much effect as women you don’t have huge muscles to bash up men so what do you do? You need mechanisms to defend yourself right? Well God gave that and better use it. IknowI am stirring a hornet’s nest but you know such silly issues needs to be rebuked..better luck next time…
Comment by Jayakrishnan Unnithan — August 19, 2009 @ 12:55 pm
Hi Kenney, I think I understand how you felt. Sorry to hear this, but can I give some advice in light of a recent, similar incident I had ?
This is not about typical girl thing or cheating. Its about ignorance. Ignorance from your part and theirs.
When you have an accident like this (assuming you are on the right side like this one), make sure you file a police complaint. In my knowledge, hitting a vehicle from behind (even if somebody jumped in front of the vehicle and they saved a life) is the fault of the guy who hit from behind. (according to the traffic rules) because the guy who hit from behind had to keep distance, and he didnt, no matter the guy in front was speeding or not.
Second, the guy who hit from behind is supposed to pay the money to the guy in front. So its wise to go to the police station. Going to traffic police is not stupid like what you may be thinking. at least the police men i have met are decently behaved in cochin city.
all you have to do is write a petition and submit. You can do this even if the other guy left the scene. All you need is the number and they wil catch him soon.
now this is not a punishment or anything. its good for both parties.
Now if you cant find a police station near by, or its a situation where you think the people are not in a state to be approached, just note down the number and ask them to leave. give the petition and ater someone can come from their part. simple as that.
here the problem was that you thought going to police was messy and would make them land in trouble. and they clearly wanted to run off the situation. had you both either gone to the police then itself or filed a complaint and gone later, this could’ve been avoided. you wouldnt have been cheated.
You can still file a complaint to police with their vehicle number and get a witness to support you and they will have to pay the amount you spent. hope you have the bill.
sometimes, in certain situations you should take the “seemingly stupid” way to get out of a situation, not run away or hide it because you didnt know what to do – or let someone cheat you becuase you didnt act sensibly.
Also pls dont jump into conclusions as dont show mercy to ladies, kids etc. thats an immature mind. may be you should say – Dont say mercy to the wrong people. Not to everyone.
Heck in this case you werent showing mercy, you didnt know what to do and they used you. (though they didnt know it may be). You let them cheat you. So why complain
Hope you read this with a pinch of salt.
Cheers !
Mani – without any proof readin.
Comment by Mani Karthik — August 19, 2009 @ 4:53 pm
Is there any like button for the comments.. I really liked Mani’s comments above.. I find it so true regarding the behaviours.
Comment by Archana — August 20, 2009 @ 8:41 am
Kenney, you have enough information of the car that hit you and do you have pictures of your car bumper that was damaged? Can’t you still complain?
Comment by Lumin — August 20, 2009 @ 9:53 am
People sometime learn wrong lessons because Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.
And an advice for accident scenes. The one who starts arguing first will win the argument. so no matter your side is right or wrong its better to scold the other party so that the third party will think that you are having the right point. It happens always.
I’m happy that people who were watching your scene at-least supported your side. That’s a rare care!!
Comment by Avant-Garde — August 20, 2009 @ 7:54 pm
You could have call police and let them do the rest. saying – Never show any mercy is not good anyway. we should follow the procedures as it is supposed to do. You are also failed to do that.
btw, if it was a direct hit, how much damage caused to their vehicle? remember, you are in kerala, try to learn the traffic symbols.
Green – Press your legs as much as you can on accelerator
Yellow – Don’t care, its just another color.
Red – Just down the gear, but maintain 60km/h
Comment by Renjith — August 24, 2009 @ 6:07 pm
Both cars were insured! nobody was going to loose anything!
Comment by Vineeth Jose — August 27, 2009 @ 7:22 pm
Kenney, This do happen in india particularity in kerala, itz good to hear that you all not get any body damage…
Comment by Binu Mathew — August 30, 2009 @ 1:04 pm
aa number um koode idoo…
Comment by jibin — September 5, 2009 @ 1:32 pm
Me too had to face lots of such incidents…and the latest one was with an auto driver(crash was his fault and he broke his arm,wasnt able to take his autorikshaw for 6 months)He and family came to me and he cried saying that he had no other source of living .. seeing his pathetic situation I decided to suffer my loss(But fact was that he was willing to pay,but I said I dont need the money,,,) But this is the case of typical upperclass family who have money in hand but unwilling to pay!Truly Unforgivable!
Comment by linjo — September 7, 2009 @ 5:49 pm