Meaning: People who criticize from the sidelines, much like someone giving unwanted advice from the back seat of a vehicle to the driver.
Once upon a time there lived a girl called Amrita, in her late 20’s in a small town. It was not long before that she had married a boy from a different community against the wishes of both their parents. Both of them were disowned by their families and were together trying to make ends meet.
One night her husband while on his way back home met with an accident and died on the spot. Amrita was left all alone after that and none of the family members offered her a helping hand. Her financial condition began to get from bad to worse and she was unable to figure out what she could do.
She lived in a flat, which for a single person was no less than a mansion, so one fine day she decided to have paying guests to earn her livelihood. She released an advertisement and soon received a positive response.
A young college student Arpit came to look at the accommodation and the deal clicked to both. Within a period of a week Arpit moved in and started living in the house. Things were going fine and both had similar tastes and understanding.
With the passage of time Amrita started depending on him for not only her financial needs but even found a great friend in him who was always there for her through thick and thin.
Other people in the locality started raising their fingers on the pure bond that the two shared and forced Amrita either to vacate her flat or to throw Arpit out of her house as his presence was giving the other children a wrong message in the locality.
Seeing Amrita trying to justify her side and no one paying any attention to her, Arpit at once vacated the flat and never turned back.
Again Amrita was left in the same old situation and this time she had another female PG. Again as things started off on a positive note but soon the neighbors started complaining about the new girl, who actually took home tuitions to meet her rent; about bringing numerous boys home. They all once again started to pressurize Amrita to get rid of her tenant.
However, this time Amrita refused to pay attention to them as she had realized that they all were just BACK SEAT DRIVERS who only knew how to complain and nothing else. Before too under their pressure she lost a good friend and now again they were doing the same to her, without paying attention to her financial and other basic needs. This time she dealt with the situation boldly and continued to live her life the way she wanted with her new tenant in whom she once again had found a great friend and a younger sister.
©Ritanjali Hastir
