My Take on Roads!

Recently, as I was busy waiting for the traffic jam to clear out, on the roads in Guwahati, a peculiar feeling came to me. As it so happened, I found out that the rules followed by Guwahatians are way too different than in any other places in this world. I don’t know, if it’s only me but I found out certain things which were pretty odd.  Like, I don’t know why we get struck in those damn traffic jams. I certainly have to be a fool to not know why. Better still, I literally do not know. You see I am sounding like I am trying to amuse you, but I am seriously not joking. Before I bore you off, let’s get started with things.

            1.Well, to start with, I want to know if the traffic light rule is tad too difficult to understand. Or does it have an altogether different meaning in this part of the world. The other day as I was riding my cousin’s two-wheeler and at a certain point when I came across a traffic junction, I was forced to do the unwanted. As I waited for the lights to turn green, which were red by then, cars and bikes at my back started honking so indiscreetly, that I felt like a criminal who had just escaped from the famous Tihar jail.  Now, let me ask all of you. Haven’t we all studied in our primary classes about that goddamn traffic light and all its rules? Or does Guwahati have its own set of rules put down for those special morons?  We got to put a stop to our vehicles till the lights are red. That’s it! As simple as a rule as that.

           2. Another thing which strikes me out is the issue with “Zebra Crossing”. I still haven’t figured out the case with those white and black stripes on the road. People in Guwahati don’t even bother to use those coveted crossing areas. People invent their own crossing areas wherever they find a gap in the divider on the roads. It takes an awful lot of pain for vehicle drivers to figure out from where a pedestrian may pop out of somewhere to cross the road and if luck would have it and he is hit, then the rest would be history. Both for the pedestrian and the rider.
         
      3. The other day, I was travelling by one of the famous public buses of Guwahati which ply on our roads, which was obviously over-crowded, and luckily I found myself a seat. As fate would have it, there were some female passengers too, who were standing as there were no empty seats, obviously. Male passengers including me were sitting while some of the females were standing quite uncomfortably.  I offered my seat to one of them, and stood up. Now, as I did this, I was greeted with dangerous and scary gazes from fellow passengers, their eyes seemed to pop out anytime. They were acting as if I was Sunny Leone. I don’t know why people find it near to impossible to offer seats to others, leave alone females or elderly persons. It is the utmost duty of every individual to do so. And I beg you to do that. Do not make fun of me for doing that. I always do my duty.


            4.Now, the next thing which leaves me puzzled is the story behind “No Parking” areas. In some of the ‘prestigious’ places, the “No Parking” board lays there like our very own Prime Minister, with cars and bikes parked around the board with no one to care. This may sound too bad to be true, but this is what I observed. And I am not bluffing. And the funniest thing is the part below the “No Parking” words, “Violation fine Rs 500”.Even those scary words wouldn’t scare off the people and make them follow civic sense. As for me 500 bucks is huge money considering the fact that I am still surrounded by fun and joyous moments of life. In simple words, I am jobless as in I am still a student. This doesn’t necessarily mean that jobfull (the opposite of jobless in case you haven’t heard that word, and this word doesn’t find a place in any form of dictionary. This is an “Ankit word”) people are boring and without fun. And finally, let’s move to my last horrendous observation:

     5.This is the strangest observation I have made. Do not curse me, now. I do not know why people while driving two-wheelers tend not to wear their so-called head gears, which are their helmets. There is a certain rule that if you are driving a two-wheeler you MUST wear a helmet. But people openly violate the rule. I know that it becomes very essential for the riders to show their handsome and charismatic faces to the girls so that they are impressed by them. But let me tell you, with the speed they ride the bikes it is nearly impossible for the girls to make out who is riding the bike. So, it is better to cover the head with helmets. I know many of my friends do this, but trust me I mean no harm. I just want you all to be safe. And, of course, live longer. And if this was not enough, even some of the traffic police personals ride bikes without wearing helmets. If the law enforcer himself do not oblige to the law, then this blog post would not be enough to turn you to Mahatma Gandhi. Even I am not Mahatma. Let God help you out.

My note on the above observations doesn’t necessarily mean the next time you hit the road, you go  about looking around to see if my observations are actually correct. If you are driving a vehicle, then do not even care to alter your mind from the road. If it is otherwise, you are free to do anything except throwing garbage on the roads. Be happy. Be safe. Respect all. Thank you.