So Mumbai decided to observe the World Health day by designating it as a "No Honking day". The city where the first thing that you do after buying a truck is paint "Horn OK Please" on the back of it with a motley of colors available at your local painter's shop (with his take at artistry) its ironic to expect people not to honk for a day.
I decided to not honk and live up to the expectations of the Traffic police. And lo-behold I took 45 minutes for a 3 km drive which I otherwise took 20 odd minutes coupled with honking :)
Well, not honking in my city is not practical. For us to not honk, we should first learn to follow lanes. There is no lane discipline. Most of us just inch towards our destination by pushing our vehicles in every conceivable place on the road that we can imagine (that includes the oncoming traffic lane too!!). Also, almost every road in my city has been dug up. It feels more like driving between craters, than on roads!! All this with people crossing the road, the bicycles and the auto rickshaws (The article on Autorickshaws in Wikipedia is very informative, check it out :) !!). I bet the only reason auto rickshaws are built with a single wheel in the front is for them to sneak into spots that 4 wheelers cant go and create trouble. All said and done, this is my first "protest" blog. Please follow lane discipline, and silence and peace will follow :) !! I really pity the Mumbai Traffic Police. They have a tough job to do!
Once I told one the autoricshaw guy to follow the rules and reduce the speed... he just gave me a cool (stupid) answer... 'I started driving long before these rules were made... so they are not for me'... I think it's important to improve the infrastructure and educate children to follow the rules... people... I support the Author... FOLLOW THE RULES... PLEASEEE... or the next generation will HATE us...
ReplyDeleteThanks anonymous for supporting my cause!! But I feel helpless, I don't think we can change the collective mentality of soo many people, imbibed over years of non coperation.
ReplyDeleteNice post. I think in India have a strong tendency for breaking rules. The malls I saw in India are very clean mainly because there are people who make sure people do not dirty it up.
ReplyDeleteThe Supreme Court can make do whatever but it is the Pandu who is King. They are the ones who should be given incentives to impound vehicles and these incentives should be more than the bribes they get. Also, a separate lane for buses on main roads and keeping trucks off the street during peak hours would be nice ideas I think.
Well well ... one can dream.