Self Defense

During last week of November, USA celebrates ThanksGiving. Recently, I heard about an incident that happened on ThanksGiving night. It was told by one of my relative, who works as HR in one of the company in Manyata Tech Park & its about a guy who works in that company. After closely hearing to the incident, it made me THINK what would I have done if I were in that Person’s place?

I don’t exactly know that person’s name, so let’s call him “Rahul” (naam toh suna hi hoga). Rahul works in a night shift for a reputed MNC in Manyata Tech Park, near Hebbal. He is a northi guy (doesn’t know Kannada) & stays nearby Whitefeild. On ThanksGiving night, USA clients were on vacation & Rahul’s work was finished early. So he thought of leaving office by 1:30AM (early morning). He somehow caught a cab & got lift till Marathahalli Bridge. From there, casually, he again took another cab to go till his place at this late night. 

Rahul sat inside the cab which already had 2 fellow passengers along with driver. After travelling for few minutes, the guy sitting next to him, took out a knife & hold it against his stomach & ordered to give everything he has! Rahul was shocked & scared. He didn’t knew what to do. Btw, even the driver & other fellow were involved in this violence. They took his iPhone mobile & asked to empty his pockets. There were so many cards, debit, credit, Reliance, ID card, Max card etc. They asked pin number for each of the cards. Since it was last week of Novemeber, still salary was not credited & he didn’t had much money in ATM. He tried & struggled to convince them the same in hindi which they were not following completely. He was ready to give how much ever he had so that they leave him after that. I mean, what else can he do? What else any one can do but then they told, if he doesn't have anything else to give (other than iPhone), then lets go to Shivajinagar. He asked why, to which they told - we have our guy there, who takes out eyes, Kidneys etc & sell it off! I mean, what the hell is this! What kind of violence or torture is this?

After hearing this, I started to imagine, what would I have done, if I were in his place! The first thought, which came to my mind is, as soon as he takes off knife at my stomach, suddenly grab it out from his hand & stab him at his heart! He never expects, that other person would do that & is possible that he might be holding it in a loose grip. In case, if he was holding it tight, stab him by taking his own hand holding knife (as he cannot expect anything of that sort might happen & his hands might be free). Just stab, aiming right at his heart. He’ll be dead in few seconds! Quickly stab the other fellow sitting next to driver. Then driver will be scared like HELL. Just take out the knife & hold it to the neck of driver. Order him to stop vehicle nearby. Injure driver & run away (Or) call police explaining your self-defense!

Once I get these above rushes of thoughts into my head, I was shocked to know by myself that, how much violent have I become! I mean, killing the person sitting right next to me. Stabbing in heart etc. I started to think, where did I learn all these? After analyzing, I got to know the answers.

Dexter tries to kill Zach (not tries, he KILLS) in the climax of series with just a ball pen! Arya Stark, a teen age girl, learns that, stabbing the sword at right place where a man’s heart is, can take his life quickly. These all thoughts came to me from the TV series which I watch so much & I am addicted to. If I were, earlier Bollywood mind-set Prasanna, then below mentioned lines might be the first set of thoughts coming in my mind, if I were in Rahul’s position.

I would ask him to calm down & I’m ready to give everything I have. I would be ready to give even the stuffs or extra money which he hasn't asked and never knew I had. Then I would try to talk them into it, like why are you people doing such illegal stuffs. Then I would expect them to open up & tell all their problems. I understand them & gives them extra more money & share my contact number & tell them to stop doing such things & call me in future if any help is needed! I get out of the car safely & happily. HaHaHa, Hilarious isn’t it? ;)

Let’s come back to Rahul’s story now. Since they threatened to take out his Kidneys etc, & they weren't joking. They were really serious about it. He gave what all money he had. After that, do you think, they left him in nice shape? NO. They hit him hard on the head & threw him outside the moving car & went away. Poor Rahul was slightly unconscious & couldn't note down the vehicle number also. He was bleeding & was hospitalized. He had lots of stitches to his head with 2+ weeks of bed rest. This week, he might be joining back to office.

I was so shocked to hear this incident, which happened, just 3 kms away from the place where I stay. What I want to conclude & say is we need to be prepared for self-defensing ourselves in these days. I am not asking to be as violent as trying to kill them or as innocent as trying to convert them into some good guys but you need to be prepared for your own self-defense.

I know that, it’s easy to talk about but when we are actually in that position, our mind gets blocked & cannot think out of box. We need to practice to think out of box in such times. That’s how self-defense creates awareness about our options in such crucial times. We always need to be prepared to get out, GOD FORBID, if we ever get into one of such situation.

At last, but not least, I would like to thank my hobby/addiction of watching lots of English TV series which makes me think of something out of box. If I were, earlier me, Bollywood mind-set Prasanna then God knows, what would have happened to him if in case he got stuck up in that cab instead of Rahul :)