94-year-old Joe Gonsalves has been appointed Chief Traffic Warden for Mangaluru
October 1 is observed as World Elders Day - but for some, age is clearly just a number - and no reason to take the foot off the accelerator and apply the brakes. Meet Joe Gonsalves, a spry 94-year-old - and he plans to get the traffic of Mangaluru into some kind of order. He has volunteered to work with the traffic police in his home town to set up a Traffic Warden Squad.
"I have been driving for the last 75 years in Mangalore city. It was a pleasure to drive. I realised there is a radical difference in traffic from what I knew then and what it is today. Very often people tend to criticize what the traffic department is doing. But have we asked a question to ourselves, what are we doing about it? Pointing a finger at anyone is very easy but we should not be on fault-finding missions but on fact-finding missions. Then we will find an answer," Mr Gonsalves told NDTV.
Mr Gonsalves has been appointed Chief Traffic Warden for the city after choosing to be the change he wanted to see.
AC Vinay, a corporator, is impressed. "This is an indication to youth and other citizens of Mangalore city to join with Gonsalves," he said.
"I am not working alone. I am working with the department coordinating their efforts at the same time providing them with manpower to the best of my ability. We directed our attention to colleges... We told students their role was not just to study and get degrees but to reach out to people. We told them the best way is to try and avoid road accidents and deaths. It is my turn to return something to Mangalore and the people of Mangalore," Mr Gonzalves said.
The members of the new Traffic Warden Squad will have a marvelous example to follow. As will all of us.