Ever since National Award winning actor Surabhi Lakshmi went Live on Facebook yesterday, and reacted against the dreadful experience that she had to endure along with several other motorists at the Paliyekkara Toll Plaza, varied responses have started pouring in. While the actor has been mostly lauded for what she had done, there have also been a few brickbats that were thrown her way.
Surabhi deserves all the support that she can possibly get, and any one who has ever had the misfortune of having been caught at the fag end of a never ending queue at this toll booth, would precisely understand the ordeal that she has gone through. While it remains merely on paper, that the Toll Plaza should not keep vehicles in waiting if their number exceeds five in the queue, none of this is actually put into practice, and even those with real emergencies are simply left in the lurch, twiddling their thumbs in sheer indignation.
What surprises is perhaps the opinions of a few, who accuse the actor for having come up with a publicity stunt, that displays her arrogance. Quite a hilarious argument, since there is hardly anything in this issue that would actually raise Surabhi’s PR graph, and if promptly reacting to a gross injustice that is being meted out to an individual is misconstrued as arrogance, then there is probably nothing that the actor can do about it.
There are also the suggestions that all it costs is a meager sixty five rupees to get past the toll, and its here that we wrong ourselves time and again. Perhaps its time to put your foot down and state once and for all this is not the way things need to be get done, and if one does not have the fervor to do so, at least let us not disrespect someone who has had the courage to do it! Because it could be you or me tomorrow, caught midway along that annoying line, waiting for your turn that never comes, and telling yourself all along that you truly deserve better than this!