Gone are the day’s when the walkers had the luxury of a paved foot path to amble along. Slowly this space became a restricted area with hawkers and two wheelers claiming right of occupation. The walkers, undaunted, started using the kerb sides of the road to commute.
Their joy was living on borrowed times as the automobile population increased many folds – now sedans, hatch backs, hunch backs, SUVs and varieties of other 4 wheelers stood parked like Nandi in front of the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Siva. Unless you have a darshan of the Nandi walking and shopping are out of question.
In annoyance, the automobiles spewed soot laden smoke from adulterated fuel or to vent anger at the speeding Simpsons were driving them mad. To announce their presence and to add to the noise pollution, every vehicle on the road leaves a wake of stereo music. If you wonder how the driver will attune himself to the horns of the following vehicle – the answer is simple, he can hear the music from the other vehicle loud and clear! Who has time to honk the horn every now and then?
At T junctions or plus junctions or blind left-handers or right-handers, the highways have the convention of providing speed breakers/bumps to rein in enthusiastic drivers from causing accidents. But this bump obviously had ignited the imagination of the drivers – they migrate to the left and bypass the bumps with a heart surgeon’s skill. But not before scaring the day light out of the hapless walkers, staying on the correct side of the road as per road user’s convention.
The zebra crossings become hunting grounds, when habitual red-light jumpers take to the roads. The penalty for their hits and misses is paid by the pedestrians.
The harried walker gets a rare chance, to enjoy the predicament of one such uncaring driver, once in a while. As is his wont, the errant driver parks at a “no parking” zone – the shop is nearby or why to search for a parking zone or why not I park the vehicle as per my convenience?
But there are traffic cops who don’t look upon these acts kindly and do something about it. It will certainly be a pleasure to watch the ‘drive by rule’ type, in action. Waiting to book a traffic violation, he happily attaches a ‘bracelet tackle’ on to the front wheel, sticks a paper on the windscreen and again retreats to a corner tea shop, to ambush another violator, unawares.
The errant driver comes back, takes in the situation, searches for the ‘jailer’ of his immobilized vehicle, in frustration and looks at his watch once in a second. The cop makes his leisurely appearance, takes his own sweet-revenge time to check vehicle’s papers and the driver’s license. The emotive pleading and bargaining, that ensues, is vividly mirrored on the face of the ‘no zone’ parker.
At this point, the offender becomes oblivious to the surroundings and fails to notice the walker imbibe the drama, from across the road. In the first place he filed to look at the no-parking sign and how can one expect him to pay attention to the surroundings!
After a lengthy discussion, the traffic violator understands that the cop is not going to relent and pays up the fine. The necklace-free car comes to life and moves away.
The walker moves on with a satisfied smirk of a smile on his face, feeling happy that an honest cop had at least booked one “no-parking” case to uphold the respect, the rules of the road deserves.
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