The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : It's never going to be a happy New Year for them

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 31, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

It's never going to be a happy New Year for them

By Marri Ramu

"Let expression of joy be on the faces and not on the vehicle accelerator." - Tejdeep Kaul Menon

HYDERABAD, DEC. 30. People gaped as police examined the boy, still slumped, on the Abids road outside a theatre. His body lay against the road, perhaps pushed by the force with which he slammed into the car in front. Blood oozing out of his head, the boy died after a couple of hours. He did not live to see sunrise on the New Year day.

Even as thousands brace for another year-end revelry, be it at swank pubs and club resorts or by zooming on their bikes, an uneasy calm prevails in the Begumbazar house of K. Rama Rao, all of 24, who died in a road accident on the night of December 31 last year!

Like hundreds of adrenalin-pumping youngsters eager to welcome the New Year by riding their vehicles at breakneck speed, Rao, a small-time photo lamination shop owner, too, ventured out on his motorcycle accompanied by two of his workers - Ramesh and Srinu.

After some `good time' at Necklace Road, Rao was returning home around 1.30 a.m. "He was greeting passers-by and lost in the revelry.

Unfortunately, he also lost control of the vehicle and hit a car in the front when the car driver suddenly applied brakes near Santosh theatre," the Abids police quoted an eyewitness.

`A curse'

Rao sustained serious head injuries and was shifted to Osmania General Hospital, where he died while undergoing treatment. "It was the biggest shock of my life. New year celebrations turned out to be a big curse for our family," Rao's father, Achyutha Rao, said in a choked voice.

"With my son's tragic death haunting us, we'll never celebrate New Year in our lives," Rao's mother, Nagendramma, told The Hindu , with tears swirling in her eyes.

Rama Rao's tragic death was not an isolated incident on that night.

In 2002

Death came calling for three other youngsters - Vivekananda Reddy, K. Chandrashekhar Reddy and Jessy Robert -- who were all out on two-wheelers to greet their friends. Seven more revellers sustained injuries.

The tragic script was the same on the night of December 31, 2002, as well when six youngsters died in separate road accidents, the police said.

"Drunken, rash and negligent driving by youth in the name of New Year celebrations is dashing the hopes of several families. Let expression of joy be on the faces and not on the vehicle accelerator," was the fervent plea of the Hyderabad Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Tejdeep Kaur Menon.

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