Three Pegs and a Drive: How Drunken Drivers Create a Nightmare on the Roads

More than 28 years ago while doing my post graduation in journalism and mass communication in Kerala University, I was returning at around 10 pm after seeing the University Youth Festival. Infact, some of us had the task of reporting it for our lab journal and also a video assignment.After seeing of my friend staying in the University Hostel I walked back home which was hardly two kilometres away. As I was walking on the oneway towards Plamood, a speeding car just hit me and I quickly moved towards the footpath.Initially, I felt something had happened to my leg but luckily there was no injury. The driver obviously had lost control of the vehicle but he stopped the vehicle. I went and asked what happened. The driver said sorry and asked if something happened to me. Meanwhile, his wife said that they are returning from a dinner at Trivandrum Club and that her husband is drunk. I said it was not safe for him to ride back home. Meanwhile, some people crowded around the vehicle. I insisted that he should get out of the vehicle, take rest and have some lemon juice or something, relax and then go. Or alternatively, he could call someone and get the vehicle driven by somebody else. But the people said the family is there in the vehicle and it is late already. Let them go. I wondered at the attitude of the people who let a drunken person drive a vehicle fully knowing that he was not in a stable position. I also wondered how his wife could travel along with their two children when all their life and also of others on the road are in danger.
On another occasion 12 or 13 years ago, I was travelling with my wife and her cousin sister to Nedumangad at night. Suddenly an autorickshaw sprung up from somewhere in the wrong direction and hit our Maruti Alto causing considerable damage to the bonnet and side. The driver was drunk. A few people were chasing him in bikes and they said he had already hit two motorists on the road and when they tried to catch him he was escaping in his auto.We took our vehicle and his vehicle to police station nearby. The Sub Inspector told me that the autorickshaw didn't have insurance and any chance of getting money through a motor vehicles claims tribunal ruling was next to nil. He also told me that several cases are pending against that driver for drunken and rash driving. The inspector said I could get a General Description (GD)copy by confessing that I had no case against the driver and I could submit it to service center and get insurance claimed from the insurer.
On another occassion, I saw a speeding SUV hit an electric post in Plammod junction in Trivandrum quite near to our house. The young driver was obviously drunk. But he just reversed the vehicle and speeded off without making an attempt to look at the damage that was caused. No body could take note of number of the vehicle.
Now as I read reports about a young IAS officer Dr Sriram Venkitaraman who was allegedly drunk and drove a car along with his friend late at night and killing a young journalist Mohammed Basheer of Siraj Daily on the spot, I feel nothing much has changed in people's attitude towards drunken driving. Police has stepped up checking motorists in major cities using breath analysers which has caused a decline in drunken driving but by and large people still take the risk causing hardships not only to themselves but also to innocent motorists or pedestrians on the road.
Drunken driving cannot be curbed by laws alone, the awareness among people is most important.

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How Yellow Stick It or Post It Notes Can Improve Productivity

By SREEKUMAR RAGHAVAN
Most often when we wake up in the morning we get anxious thinking of the number of activities to be done over the course of the day. It can overwhelm you and sometimes you may not get started at all with all the important things to do.

If you are this anxious type, I can suggest a small piece of yellow paper that can be helpful for you. They are called stick-it notes. They come in small bunches and can be easily taken off one paper at a time. This 10 x 7.5 cm bits of paper are still useful even in this digital and smart technology age.

Write whatever activities have to be done in short sentences or words and preferably in the order of importance. You can also note the time - if there is a scheduled time to submit some report or need to do a purchase or online remittance before a particular deadline.

You can have separate slips for posting working related activities and home related activities. Today, I had two sets of papers for the day. One, for work that had mainly three activities-making a proposal for digital marketing, writing web research snippets for a publication and doing some keyword research. The first two activities were completed before evening while the third one was pending even at 8 pm in the night. But nothing worrying there is still time or I can carry it to the next day. However, I can always be happy about finishing the first two tasks which were also important.

The second slip was related to home related activities such as some urgent purchases-replacement of an LED tube, fund transfer abroad for son, hair cut for daughter enjoying her school vacation and also a long due dental checkup for myself. Except one or two small items in the schedule everything was completed by the end of the day and even a few activities not mentioned in the slips were also done.

How Does Yellow Stick It Notes Make a Difference

1) Yellow Stick It notes makes it convenient to list the activities you have to do in a day. And then you start doing it. In the evening I took off the first two notes prepared in the morning and striked off the activities I had completed. Then prepared the next list of activities for late evening which included writing a blog on how to use Yellow Stick It notes! There is no miracle about how Yellow Stick It works- you are self-motivated to start doing activities one by one. If out of five activities you finish only three by the end of the day, you are still happy.

2)It breaks down a mountain of activity into smaller components. Some half-finished work can still be completed when there is more time. You become aware of the deadline as you constantly see the Stick It Notes in front of you.

3) It helps you get more organised and methodical in your day-to-day activities whether it is work related or home related or health related.

4) Stick It notes are convenient- It can be pasted in anywhere- on the desktop, lap top, shelf, on the wall or just about any place within your eye sight distance. It doesnt distract nor does it make the surface dirty with marks of gum or glue.

Start scheduling with these small yellow Post It Notes and keep anxieties and nervousness at bay. Have a great day!