Lets Behave India - Roads

The biggest challenge of urban life in India - the daily commute from home to work and back. Traffic is never smooth. Jams, dug up roads, incessant honking,increasing commute times are a regular feature. Yet quite a bit of this irritant can be reduced by following road discipline. Something which we Indians lack. 

Cutting lanes, jumping traffic signals, not wearing a helmet, driving in the wrong direction for a short-cut, not signalling while changing lanes or turning, stopping bang on the zebra crossing instead of behind it, pedestrians moving about without a care, over-speeding, honking for the sake of it, using mobile phones while driving (I have even observed one gentleman playing poker on his mobile while driving) - Rule breaking has become a part of our habit. And all of us our guilty of it.

Though we get away with breaking these rules most of the time but some are not so lucky. Accidents happen but many are completely avoidable, Only if everyone followed discipline on the road. We may not be able to do much about dug up roads or malfunctioning traffic lights or the sheer number of vehicles on the road, but we can be more strict in following up the rules. After all rules have been made for our convenience only, although many would like to differ. 

Only way to curb these dangerous activities is heavy fines and stricter implementation of rules by the traffic police. Within my office campus, most of the cars and buses actually follow speed limits, park in designated areas only and even stop for pedestrians on the zebra crossing. Chief reason being penalties which are deducted directly from the next month's salary. So monetary fines do have an effect if implemented properly. Another good option would be to take the offenders to the nearest station and show them videos/images of real life accidents which might put in some fear in them.

What we should & should not do?

• Stop before the zebra crossing. Don't think any time is saved by stopping 2 yards further.
• Use helmets always. And on your head. Carrying the helmet in your arm while riding is even more dangerous
• No mobile use - especially no texting or games or photography. All Smartphones have motion detectors. So why don't the likes of Apple and Samsung make sets which hibernate if moving beyond certain speeds. All callers can be notified that the person is driving and is thus unable to take the call. 
• No weaving through lanes.
• No honking at signals. I think most drivers in India believe that the vehicle in front is powered not by fuel but by the sound of the horn.
• Drive within speed limits.

Hope this initiative by Mumbai Mirror and Sanjay Manjrekar (Link1, Link2) has some positive effect. Hopefully our roads will then become a better place. I know there won't be any instantaneous change but we should continuously strive for it.

P.S. An old post on the subject of Road Rush (Link)

Elephanta

Elephanta Island - Caves & Rock Carvings. How to narrate the experience. So here goes a little account of the trip.

First - A 35 km taxi ride ending in verbal fight with the taxi driver. Reached Gateway of India

Second - An hour long steamer ride in the middle of the day. View of the  Mumbai coastline and oil tankers. Reached the island.

Third - A 5 minute ride on the toy train. Reached the steps of the cave.

Fourth - A 15 minute climb up the hill. The path shaded by various curio-shops and monkeys all around. Temperatures in the late 30's (degree C).

And finally reaching the cave and geting to see...

All the journey hardships forgotten. It had been worth everything. Some more pictures of the place.

The Shivlinga

The Natraja Form carved into the wall

Entrance to one of the caves carved out of rock

And as a bonus on the way back as the sun went down, managing to click the Mumbai picture

Gateway of India & The Taj Hotel

Elephanta - a little removed from the world but certainly worth spending a day.

Bombay

Mother of cities to me,

For I was born in her gate,

Between the palms and the sea,

Where the world-end steamers wait.

These are the words used by Kipling to describe his birth-place, the city of Bombay (now known as Mumbai). A city which has been my, well, can't really describe it as my "home", but my place of residence for over four years now. I am no Kipling (or anything even remotely close), but reading these lines today, made me think.

• How do you get attached to a place?
• Is it because you have lived there?
• You have friends there?
• You have fond memories of the place?
• Do you associate it with some of the best events in your life (maybe without having actually lived there)?
• And does the attachment actually take place after you have left the place (Kipling left Bombay at the age of five)?
• Isn't this more a kind of longing than any actual sense of belonging?

Pretty philosophical questions. And I don't know if I should even try answering them. All I know is all these four years of staying in this city , I haven't yet been able to consider Bombay as "home".

Maybe time will bring some change.

Not Again...

Yester evening (July 13, 2011) I got a text message. It read - "Just read about the blasts in Mumbai... is everthing fine at your end?". A bit confused, I switched on the TV and and saw our news channels going wild with their "Breaking News" mode. Texted back that I was Ok and then kept watching the "Breaking News". And the first feeling that came to mind was "Not Again".

Frustration, Anger and sense of helplessnes were there as the pictures unfolded on the TV screen. And the worse than these was the feeling of deja vu. The pictures were nothing new, they had all happened before time and time again. Multiple cities had been the target of series of bomb blasts. But Mumbai has been a repeated target. The financial capital, a city always in rush, lots and lots of people - all these factors making it probably the ideal target for terroists.
After the blast comes the condemnations from various quarters (does anybody not condemn the terrorist strikes) with special mention being provided to the condemnation from the President of the USA by our media. Followed by opposition trying to score brawny points by blaming the government for not preventing the attacks while never giving a single suggestion of note on the issue. In the meanwhile, there are the TV channels broadcasting "live" images of dead bodies. Also hyping up the event much beyond it actually was. As an example seeing the news channels on yesterday, the impression of an entire city under seige would have been created while in reality most of the parts life was going on as normal as it could. In the meanwhile the victims are rendered as nameless entities reduced to being a statistic on the latest terror strike count.
The cycle doesn't stop here when the next day people try to go back to their normal lives, the so called "spirit and resilience" of the city is hailed. I have been living here for the past 3 years. I can say its not spirit or resilience which makes the people get back to their lives. With so many attacks over the years, they have simply become immune to all of it. And this is why the people in the city move on so easily after the initial shock and outrage.
As for me, some feeling of outrage vented out via this medium and back to normal life now. After all there is nothing around me which suggests that something this terrible happened not too far from where I am sitting right now.


I found a good post on the same subject here.

P.S. However, even such times can have silver linings. Received a few texts & calls from friends and family whom I otherwise may not have spoken to in quite some time.

The Chase: Victory at Chennai

First the bare facts. India beat England in the first test at Chennai by 6 wickets chasing 387 in the fourth innings after having conceded a 75 run lead in the first innings. The sensational run chase was kicked off in the most imperious fashion by Sehwag and the rest of the team built on the start provided by him. There were good performances all around by the Indian players except Dravid. Yuvraj Singh cementing his place in the middle order and Sachin Tendulkar scoring the match winning runs to reach his 41st century. It can now be safely said that the Indian team is on a roll and is looking good to replace the Australians as the numero uno in all forms of cricket.

However this victory was not about cricket alone. The test occurred in the backdrop of one of the most horrific terror attacks in the country. The England team had abandoned the one day series midway and left for home. It was a good decision as cricket was the last thing in anybody's minds when the commando operations were going on. However it was a much braver decision to return to the country for the test series. The matches were rescheduled but the fact that the match took place at all was considered a big victory for all concerned. The England team is easily the most admired team to have come to play in India in recent times. The match is easily amongst the best test matches ever played. And it was a perfect endorsement for test cricket itself. And the perfect finish was provided by Sachin Tendulkar, himself from Mumbai, scoring the winning runs.

Now coming back to the cricket. So many times in the past we have seen India buckle under the pressure of a big run chase in the fourth innings. In fact when the innings started, my expectations were a fighting draw at best. But Sehwag simply turned the game on its head with his audacious innings for which he rightly got the Man of the Match award. However more importantly, the others built on the start provided by him with support from Gambhir. Yuvraj and Sachin put the finishing touches with a huge partnership for the fifth wicket and ensured that the match was won. Sachin silenced his critics by scoring his 41st century and winning the game for India.

Pain, Anger...

It couldn't have been a more ideal Sunday morning. I woke up to slightly overcast skies with a cool gentle breeze blowing across the creek. The most perfect morning one could say. That is till I picked up the newspaper. Now that the operations are over, the true magnitude of the losses are coming to light. Page after page was filled with reports of the casualties and pictures of the damaged interiors of the Taj and Trident. Stories of how people had been killed brought about an unexplained sadness to me. I didn't know any of them personally. But the manner of their death filled the heart with sadness. The losses have been huge. And the pleasant weather, providing a respite from the November heat, just seemed to mock everyone.
Afternoon brought the news of Home minister Shivraj Patil's resignation from the Cabinet. He has resigned on moral grounds. There have been a spate of serial blasts across various cities this year. It took over 200 deaths and a 60 hour seige of Mumbai for his morals to rise. Frankly speaking, he should have been fired long ago given his pathetic track record in the ministry. That the UPA government has finally become fully aware of the terror threat can be seen from the fact P.Chidamabaram has taken over in Patil's place inspite of the ongoing global financial crisis.
And speaking of politicians, every word spoken by them fills me with anger. Whether it is RR Patil's description of the attacks as a small incident, or Narendra Modi's antics during the crisis. Politicians cutting across party lines have at least this feature in common. At a time when people should come together, they are busy with their own political games. Disgust and anger are the emotions they bring to the mind.
So on one hand there is pain and sadness at what happened and on the other hand disgust and anger. Hopefully things will sort out soon and return to normal. Life will go on though it would never be the same for those who have had to personally face these harrowing experiences and those who lost their near and dear ones.

P.S. The last couple of months, one man had been virtually holding Mumbai hostage championing the Marathi cause. But has been keeping strangely quiet this time around. Wonder what are Mr. Raj Thakeray's of the current crisis?

A City Under Siege

28.11.2008

The siege of Mumbai continues with reports of firing and explosions at the Taj still coming in. Though other attack sites have been seemingly liberated, all this has taken too long to resolve. So far I have not heard of anyone I know amongst the casualties but still cant be too sure regarding that too. Although I have had no direct involvement with the occurrences in the city, still there is a constant thought at the back of my mind. My mind keeps wandering back to the attacks and I have been checking the news sites throughout the day. Today morning while going to the office, i realized that though I had checked the internet for over an hour, I had totally forgotten to even check my mail. Had actually logged on to the news portals the first thing after waking up today Even in office the day was spent, checking the news sites with little work getting done.
However there are a few things about the current situation which have really sickened me.
Firstly the coverage by the television news channels. They have been relaying information to the world as they would for a cricket match. Headlines like "Operations headed for a dramatic finish" look good in sporting arena, not in real life where many people have lost their lives and many more are still in danger. Also the news channels have been openly discussing the operations strategy, showing live pictures of commando movements, talking to terrorists and worse spreading rumors. There seems to be no self-restraint.
Next on the list are the politicians who have already started the blame game, with the opposition calling for the government's head. The political game has begun with the eyes on the ongoing state elections and the coming general elections. And we have our home minister, Shivraj Patil discussing the movements of NSG commandos with the media.
And lastly the general public who have been following and watching these events like they would be watching a movie, except that this is real life. And are doing their part in spreading the rumors.
Confused, Angry, Helpless... These are the words which I could use to describe my emotions right now as i go to sleep
Hoping that the dawn brings better news.

WHY????????

26.11.2008: A Wednesday (Is that any coincidence?)

Just as I was in the euphoric mood celebrating India's 5th consecutive win over England, a new alert flashed on my screen."Shootouts in Mumbai, 15 injured". Did not pay much attenton to it as it seemed to be some gang war going on from the description given alongwith. But soon the alerts frequency increased at an alarming rate. With eah alert painting a grimmer picture. The moment the words changed to "Terror Attacks in Mumbai", I decided to watch the streaming webcast of the news (No television at home, these are the times when you really miss it). I sat glued to the screen as the true magnitude of the events taking place about 40 kms from me came alive. Terrorists had attacked some of the most important locations in Mumbai including The Taj hotel and CST station. The pictures showed bodies being taken out of the Oberoi Hotel. And the details of the attacks at all the locations began to emerge. It was rivetting to watch but there was a sense of despair as I went to sleep. Just could not believe that this kind of thing could have happened.
Woke up today morning when the phone rang. It was a call from home. Soon there were a few more calls from relatives and friends. There was a general sense of shock among everyone I talked to regarding the events. On switching on the live streaming, more details emerged. The worst part was hearing about the deaths of the senior police officers involved in the operations. When I reached office, the mood seemed tense. The attacks seemed to be the only point of discussion with the work being put on hold. The entire day in office was spent reading the news and checking for updates. To see the pictures of the Taj Hotel on fire was specially distressing as it is one of the iconic images associated with the city of Mumbai. Anyways left office early when the news came in that everyone had been permitted to leave early.
Terror attacks have been carried out before in many places of the world. Mumbai has had to face serial bomb blasts in 1993 and 2006. There have been serial blasts across various cities in India this year, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi, Agartala... (seems to be an unending list). But the attacks in Mumbai this time have been different. Unlike earlier time when bombs were planted and serial blasts had taken place, this time seemed more like a raid, with terrorists with guns and grenades shooting, killing and taking hostages. They chose to attack the city's iconic locations like Taj, CST, Metro Cinema, Cafe Leopold, Nariman House... As I write this the attacks are still on and its been almost 24 hours now since they began. It has been one of the most planned terror attacks carried out.
There have been other repercussions of the attack also. The financial markets are closed. The England tour of India has been cut short. Chapions League has been postponed. (I support both decisions). Never before has there been such detailed coverage of Indian events across the world. Though this could be mainly due to the fact that there were quite a few foreign nationals amongst the hostages and those killed.
Now for my questions. I know there wont be any answers for this but still...
WHAT is the point of all these attacks? Does killing of non-involved people justify anyone's cause?
WHERE is our security mechanism to prevent these attacks? IF, we have any, that is?
And most importantly, WHY???????