Each morning an average Indian wakes up and goes about the morning routines quite unconsciously... And within about an hour to an hour and a half, he or she is on the way to work.
He must do that to put food on the table.
But it goes a lot further than that and a lot deeper.
The more he is able to do, the more he is able to get and the more he gets, the more he wants. He is hooked. It is like living the Mahabharata each day! It is a miracle that Abhimanyu returns home each evening!
It is easier and faster to walk in Mumbai than take a car/ scooter to work. In Delhi, the traffic moves much faster. So do people's tempers.
It is a wonder that with so much weight to bear, the roads are not caving in!
Crowds.
Noise.
Impatience.
Insolence.
And mindless movement.
We are apparently going to a predefined destination. But we are all so busy just going there that even having reached, we miss the point!!!
Delhi has 5.5million registered vehicles! And consider a mind boggling 11.2 million for NCR ( National Capital Region).
By current estimates Delhi loses nearly 42 crore man hours in simply commuting from home to work and back! What a mindless waste!
Consider then the fact that everybody is simply running, and unable to catch his own tail, only rushing to keep his rendezvous with Death!
Emission?Delhi's drivers get a PUC only if the checks are on!
Diesel is so much cheaper than petrol, if you have to be on the road, might as well save some!Pollution is a theoretical concept!
Rules? What rules? Zebra crossings are for Zebras. And we are not a zoo! Nor a jungle!! ( Hey! Wait!!, We are a jungle!)
Overtake from where ever you get a crevice to wedge your nose in! Right left is best left out of reckoning!
And most important... we are blind and driving! How else would you explain the need to honk so much! CAn we not see that the person in front of us and the one in front of him and the one in front of her and so on... CANNOT simply move because we are blaring!? And having become blind a few years ago, we are now headed towards becoming deaf! We will fail to respond to the blaring horns all around us!
There are ways to beat the crowd, ways to rise above the chaos, ways to clean up our city, ways to make Delhi better... Is any one listening?
Create greens... grass in road dividers with periodic borings that can harvest water and direct it directly into the water table.This will nopt only prevent waterlogging but also recharge the drying city.
Protect the trees. These are what give some of the DElhi roads a distinctive character. They not only clean up the air polluted by the constant movement of vehicles running on fossil fuel but also create a sound barrier, and modulate the weather apart from protecting the top soil.
Create a sacrosanct lane dedicated to buses and emergency services. Let the ambulance have a right of way!Let each driver know that it is NOT OK to block an emergency public vehicle.
Follow rules.
Round abouts are about creating zones of overlap that run smoothly- we do not need to rush in or out! We can practice a little courtesy on the road.
We are a very young country. we already have made a deep impact on the world.
That impact is not by running a bumper to bumper line of cars struggling to wriggle on the roads but rather that impact is largly due to its blend of technology and tradition that delivers what it promises!
We can run our schools to produce responsible citizens, not simply rote learners who can rattle facts and figures for the history and the chemistry paper and not know the difference!
We can do a lot. One thing at a time. One person at a time.
The time is now.
The question to ask is Am I the person?
