An hardware to protect the software

An hardware to protect the software

Today being Saturday, I had some work in State Bank of India and after completing it, I was coming to my workplace. On the way, I saw some hoarding advertisements by UTI Bank emphasizing the necessity of helmets. A few days back there has been an active campaign by the City Commissioner of Police, Ms. Lathika Charan near LIC, Anna Salai distributing pamphlets to two wheelers emphasizing the necessity of wearing helmets. She even handshaked and congratulated two wheelers who were wearing helmets, in an appreciating gesture.

People feel that it is an undue burden wearing an helmet making heads to unnecessarily sweat and also it brings in baldness because too much sweat makes the hair to fall. But I don't think helmets are a burden. It is rather a necessary guard to the head to eliminate any forthcoming burdens or pains that you may encounter, in case of head accidents. There is a big hoarding in T. Nagar, near Prince Jewellery junction put by Chennai City Traffic Police which emphasizes the slogan "Use the hardware to protect your software". Here the hardware is the helmet and the software is the soft brain and the skulls, the former being a protective defense layer against any head injuries during accidents.

The UTI Bank has a different advertisement slogan. The Road Transport Offices (RTOs) call the license test for two wheelers as 'Eight Test'. The meaning is that if you want a two wheeler license, in India, you have to make the number eight driving it through your two wheeler. The number eight (shaped curve) is emphasized because the driving inspectors during the license test can ascertain the following:

1. Confidence of the driver and whether the driver feels nervous
2. There are four hand signals to be shown while giving the Eight Test for two wheeler license (Start, Stop, U Turn and Right, Left Turn). No automatic indicators are allowed in this process and only hand signals should be used.

UTI bank has coined a nice slogan like 'Licensekku Ettu Podu. Thalaikku Helmet Podu'. (To translate in English, it means 'Put Eight to Get License. Put Helmet on head to product your brain and skull). Also sometime back, in our neighborhood (Pallavaram Radial Road) which has been opened recently for traffic, there had been a huge spurt of accidents due to lack of street lights. There had been an huge campaign by the residents issuing bit notices and pamplets necessitating the wearing and use of helmets to protect life.

Some years back there has been a statute that wearing of helmets was mandatory. But due to political reasons, this was withdrawn. But I don't think we should depend on the external whip to guide us for a healthy life. We should understand the utility value of helmets as a life saver not only for us but for our families and let us swear that we necessarily put the helmets on the head before opening the ignition key of our two wheeler.