Dirty Bangalore – Jaywalkers

When I first ride my scooty in Bangalore, I felt as if I am driving through an obstacle course for mountain biking. No, it was not stones which were the obstacle here; it was the two legged animals called humans (apart from four legged animals such as dogs trying to find their tail in the middle of the road or cows – which will be strategically positioned in a narrow road or hair pin bends). As the population of this IT capital of India is booming like the petrol price, I can’t see any relief in the future as well.
Zebra lines are just a decoration in the road and waste of money and human effort. Or may be it’s meant for the Zebra’s to cross as the name suggests! And you blame us for sounding our hones! It’s practically impossible not to sound your horn and get to office/home without hitting someone – yes I mean it. Why can’t God give us one more ear? The one’s which are provided to us by default is already occupied by cell phones or headphones… I knew God was the culprit!
Walkways are for street vendors and to stick/place advertisements or even for some “bird watching”. It’s not for walking for sure. Result, people here are forced to walk on the road. Yes, I meant “WALK” as it might sound quite scary for my readers in US or any other place on earth where the definition for commute is to reach the destination in one piece. It’s by pure luck and God’s blessings that I am still alive – and now you know why we Indian’s have so many Gods J
You hit a pedestrian (a modest term in India for Jaywalkers) here and you are finished!. Owning a car or a bike is against the ethics for those who don’t have one, so you got to be punished. No, our system doesn’t care how much you pay for your vehicle insurance or road taxes (if you call it a road). The moment you own a vehicle of any form, you have unknowingly signed an agreement to be bulldozed and yeh, you are a petty Boorshwa!
It doesn’t matter if they jump in front your car or bike, you must have been over speeding or your breaks must not be working. (The standard is that you should stop a vehicle which is traveling at the speed of 25 miles an hour – which is the maximum you can drive in Bangalore city – in .0000025 seconds) or you should be an escape artist J
They might give u an impression that they are crossing the road forward, but Alas… they are just practicing moon walking …. ask MJ and he will tell you. Usually kids are protected by their parents who hold them behind their arms, but not in Bangalore. Kids education is very expensive here, so it’s the other way around. And yes, the moment you hit a kid, just pray that there is a fire engine just around the corner, because people would suddenly feel chilly and would just light up your car J