What’s the best use of lemons, and green chillies that you can think of? Lemonade and pickle come to my mind, and yes, salad too. But I wasn’t able to think of anything else that brings both together. Unless, of course, I put logic aside, and then ask the same question to myself. Even before that, I am sure that there would be some whose first thought would have been dramatically different than mine. I am certain that they would have instantly visualized the ubiquitous image of lemons and chillies hanging from our doorsills, truck bumpers, and motorcycles. If I’m not wrong, lemons and chillies together contain more power than the dream team of all Marvel and DC superheroes put together. Naturally then, they, along with Kaala teeka, form our first line of defence towards all evil. I think it works too, considering that we will soon overtake China in population, if we haven’t done that already.
However, even if you think security alarms and cameras at home; airbags in cars, and helmets for motorcycle riders, comprise stuff designed and made for cowards, you still cannot turn a blind eye towards the fact that India accounts for the maximum number of road fatalities in the world. And your lemons will fall off their hangings when you’ll know that it’s bikers, cyclists, and pedestrians that form the biggest part of that number. You might already be aware of all of that if you’re a responsible citizen (who does everything, including riding and driving responsibly) and, therefore, you must already be also aware of how important insurance is. We’ll still reiterate how important it is, as not only will it serve as a refresher for you, it might just enlighten a few (or many) thick-heads and enable them to behave maturely.
Just one thing though – since we are a motorcycle-only blog, we’ll just talk about motorcycle insurance here. But why do you need bike insurance if you ride responsibly, and have Alladin’s genie protecting your bike in the parking lots? Well, to begin with, you’re required to do so by law. Yes, it’s a legal requirement, and that is why a lot of smart Alecs only get ‘Third Party Insurance’ – the cheapest form of insurance, both in terms of investment and possible returns. We did explain the different types of two wheeler insurance in one of our previous articles. Still, we’ll touch all briefly as we go ahead, so let’s start with third party insurance for bikes.
Third Party Insurance: This is THE insurance that tells the world that we, the Indians, are the most considerate and least selfish people in the world. It tells everyone that we do not care about our own lives; we do not care about our own vehicle; all we care about, while out on the road, is you, our fellow road user, and your property. That is why we do not take something that’s called Comprehensive Insurance; we only take Third Party Insurance because we really did believe Shakespeare when he said, Love Thy Neighbour. Third Party Insurance does just that.
It promises to cover the damages incurred by a person and/or their property by your motorcycle. You get nothing if your motorcycle is stolen or gets damaged, and you or your family members also get nothing if you get injured or die in a road accident. But that makes you a hero, and that’s what really matters, right?
Comprehensive Insurance: The type of insurance that covers everything and, as such, is the default choice of most sane people. These people are looked upon by the aforementioned lot as spendthrifts because along with taking comprehensive insurance for motorcycles, they are also seen buying the best helmets and riding gear that they can afford. How utterly selfish and wasteful is that, no?
Bharti-AXA, a joint venture between Bharti and AXA Group has come up with a video which tries to imbibe sense in the minds of people and portrays that superstitions do not work! Here… watch it…
I sincerely hope that you, or your family, never find the need to file an insurance claim, but, with the ever-increasing population, that is seeing a proportional increase in traffic, road accidents, and crime as well, it is imperative that you get something to fall back upon in case things go really awry someday. The lemons, chillies, and kaala teeka may continue to be the first line of defence though…
