GENTLEMEN ON THE ROAD? YES, THEY DO EXIST!
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Can you imagine a time when there were no cars or
vehicles on the road? When cavemen would use their legs to walk and run and
probably, kick a stubborn mule or two? Or switch forward to the first man who made
a round object and used it as a wheel, an invention which would take over human
lives in the distant future?
Today, I live in a town where wheels have certainly taken
over our lives – and how! Most households have an equal number of cars as there
are adults in the house, even if some of those adults do have no idea of what
it means to be an adult. Of course, that is fodder for a whole new topic of
discussion, maybe, on another occasion.
My title shines a light on the topic I intend to wax
eloquent on. Are there gentlemen on the road? Is there a method in the madness?
Or is the Almighty looking down at the chaos on our streets and sighing, “Gosh,
did I actually create this mayhem?” For, yes, he did create order out of chaos,
and now his intelligent creations are creating chaos out of order. A tall
order, indeed!
Let us start with the rules of driving. There are umpteen
driving school instructor who weave through the traffic, shepherding nervous first
timers with gentle but firm instructions. “Watch out for that signal! Slow down,
now… no, not the accelerator, the brakes! Watch where you put that foot of
yours!” As the nervousness increases, the tone becomes peremptory, and at the
final point of almost-collision, the instructor sends up a silent prayer that
he had the sense to instal parallel brakes in his car.
Of course, no one follows the rules on the road. The bus
drivers drive as if they have a right to every passenger on the side of the
road, the auto drivers perform acrobatic stunts as they squeeze into the
tiniest of spaces, the motorbike riders behave like James Bond on two wheels.
The poor pedestrians look around desperately for a pavement to clamber onto,
but every inch of every pavement is choc-o-block with vehicles or sleeping stray
dogs.
The worst times to travel are in the morning when everyone
is off to work, and school buses ply to and fro. The same is the case in the
evening when the reverse happens. As Thomas Gray quoted in his famous ‘Elegy’ –
“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.”
Now to my question – Are there gentlemen on the road?
Well, I have not seen very many, but one for certain is my better half, maybe because
the Army has trained him well, or because he keeps his cool better than I do. Having
been a participant in the Himalayan Car Rally twice, he has learnt the ropes
the hard way, most of all to keep his head when all around him are losing
theirs.
Hence, when vehicles and drivers around him try to force
him off the road with sheer speed, he refuses to let them do so. He stays at a
steady pace, even as they honk frantically, glaring at him. The moment he sees pedestrians
waiting to cross the road, he slows down, and lets them to go across. He
allows cars to come in from alleys on to the main road, even if there is a long
line of excitable drivers behind him. In fact, there are times when I feel like
putting down the window and giving a piece of mind to a person who is bent on a blatant disregard for rules, but my better half stays calm. No wonder he is
called the ‘better’ half; better behaved, and better tempered, I guess!
Let us not even get to the potholes on the roads of our town.
There is the majestic Swaraj Round that circumambulates the main Shiva temple,
the Vaddakkunathan, and there are myriad roads leading to this round, all of
them narrow, and getting narrower by the year, with all the buildings coming up
everywhere. The monsoons do their share of damage, and every year, there is a quick
repair job that is meant to last till the next monsoon.
Luckily, there is one rule on the road that never gets
broken, and thank God for that – the moment the siren of an ambulance is heard,
all the vehicles make way for it. Lives have been saved because of this. However,
accidents have become more common, for there are more hotheads than gentlemen
on the road. Road rage has earned a category of its own, and many are the cases
when the rage has spilled over and claimed lives. Sad, but true!
If only, rules could be followed, fines charged stringently,
and safety measures be taken more seriously! So many lives could be saved and
damage to property be avoided. Using public transport could also bring down the
number of vehicles on the road, which would reduce pollution as well.
Many countries abroad advocate walking and cycling to workplaces.
Not only do these activities bring down the congestion and the pollution, but
they also work as wonderful methods to make people healthier and happier.
Will that ever happen in our country which is growing by
leaps and bounds, and using technology to move into the category of developed
countries? Maybe when pigs start to fly! Or when we find more gentlemen on the
road! Whichever is sooner!
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