Don my jacket and the lid I do, ignite her and let my companion warm herself up well and we start off for the office. 0830 hours. Traffic signal on Palm Beach road. I bring my steed to a halt and wait for the singal light to glow green. And while just enjoying the sound of the breeze and the birds, I hear a blaring noise.
Turn back, and I see this guy in a Skoda Octavia gesticulating at me while harping his horn as if there was no tomorrow! I gather myself back, and appreciate the multitasking that this guy is capable of. He honks again! "What the hell on this earth do you want man?" I shout in my mind. I look back again and he appears to be mad behind the steering wheel. But why? I ask myself. And then I realize the reason for his enragement. The reason - traffic light was still red, and I was following the rules.
Apparantly I'd blocked his way. But what good will it be even if I moved to let him go when the signal hadn't turned green? Ah, yes. I am in Mumbai I remember. Jumping lights is only but usual in the 'financial capital of India'. It is a way of life here.
It fails me as to why people get so restless waiting for the signal to turn green? It is afterall only for their benefit and safety. And it is not like they are fighting a losing battle against time. Spend a few more seconds inside that 'oh-so-comfy' car of yours and enjoy the RJ bringing in the Bipashas and the Kareenas of the film industry on your sound system. It won't harm you, would it?
I have seen many an accident take place because of such unruliness, and have been a victim myself once. When you honk, forcing the person ahead to move, you don't quite realize that the singal is green on the other side, do you? Well, seemingly not many do. This causes a chaos and is the cause of that impending fatality. Suppose the guy who jumps the light gets hit by an oncoming car which he could not see in time. What then? It was at one such occasion that I had a date with my incident. Just that I was the latter of the two. And on two wheels.
Signal was showing green light. Peacefully going, judging the traffic flow from all directions, I honked and was just about to cross the intersection when, from god knows where, this kid in his Wagon-R leapt in front of me. It was the usual process what would be in such a situation for me then. Brake hard I did, downshifted and my steed jiggled her rear a bit. Jiggling rear is fine and controllable on dry roads. On this day, it was raining and the tarmac was wet. I fell. Bruised myself bad on the leg. Thank god for the lid on my top else the end result could've been worse. Much worse.
So, the problem is not with only a few. It is a fashion among many. A fashion that I detest and wish it meets death soon. Else, a lot more human deaths will happen. And the sacrifice will be for nothing.
