Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Crossing Over to the Other Side

We are still in Hyderabad.

I was crossing the dangerously and terrifyingly chaotic Ameerpet intersection today.

Some businesses say "The customer is always right.". In Hyderabad, the slogan goes (or should): The pedestrian is always wrong. So what if the traffic signal is at red? So what if I'm on the zebra crossing lines? Bikes, autos, cars, buses honk indignantly as I cross the road, because I obstruct them moving an inch or two further.

Someone touched my elbow. I expected somebody I knew, but this was a young girl I'd never seen before. We stepped across the road together. A car came perilously close, and as far as we could tell, the driver cared as much for our safety as for that of a couple of bugs.

Involuntarily we grabbed each other's hand and squeezed tight. After that we held hands as we crossed the road, and smiled before going our separate ways.

1 comment:

cbrao said...

Crossing of the road reminds me of a story. An old man is trying to cross a road in Paris for over a half an hour and thereafter he spotted a young man on the other side of the road. The old man yelled to the young boy “Hey! You, Young man, how did you cross to the other side of the road?" The young man replied “Me! Crossing the road. Na, I was born on this side of the road."

There is no wonder, if our Hyderabad traffic, will turn into this kind of mess, in near future, unless some miracle happens.