My birthday fiasco
I have always felt dearth of compelling topics to write about. That's not because i stay in a zion, but i'm lazy. So you might be wondering what's the next horrendous reality i'm going to write about, but this time it more to do with peace of mind and i lost it completely on my very birthday. In Bangalore, one very obvious way of losing it, is getting stuck in a traffic jam. Thats exactly what happened at 11 pm on 10th of June. And to top it all, it was raining cats and dogs. And as usual I was driving, since i have a car i'm obliged to pick up and drop all my friends. I always crib about it, but always end up doing it.
Anyway, lets continue with the story. I started from Indira Nagar, where i was treating my friends for my birthday, at 11:15 pm. It was pouring and i could barely see whats in front. When we reached the flyover, i saw cars coming back in the wrong direction, the drivers were frustrated and were shouting, i thought its the normal road rage, 'coz i didn't let them go. I continued and soon realized it that the poor souls were warning me about a jam ahead. When i realized, I made a U-turn and switched on my parking lights and started coming back, others followed me but instead of staying behind me they tried to overtake me and there we were, STUCK. There was little place where, the car next to me could've moved and we could've escaped but people think they're warriors when they're on road and retreat is defeat. Next moment i saw an auto filling that place, I was already disgusted. I shouted at the auto driver and he told me "Madam anyway noone's moving" It was beyond me to reply to that. We waited in a stand still for 20 minutes. Everyone was hoping someone would come to rescue and so they preferred to remain in the luxury of their cars. Finally my patience gave up, it generally does quite often ;-) , and i called 100 for help. I took an umbrella and got down. I was trying to regulate the traffic when a couple of more people came including a policeman, they told me get back into the car and we escaped from there. In the process I SPOILED MY SILK CHAPPALS. And since men dont wear silk chappals they should've got down and regulated the traffic. So next time someone boasts about machismo, think twice.
The misery wasn't over yet. A friend gave a wise suggestion that we take some road, completely unknown to me. I had only been there once, when i was lost, so i was skeptical. But anyway since i thought he knows more of bangalore roads than me, i agreed. The next ten minute drive was smooth. Then i could see streams. Then I could not see the road i was driving on, there was water all over. Lots of cars had broken down and contributed to the social gathering of vehicles, on road. Condition became worse just before the national games village, there was a pond. There was water everywhere and appeared like a doomsday. And in such conditions, instead of being wise, people were driving like bats out of, you know where. I was so frustrated that i could've thrashed somebody and my language was getting bad to worse. We were stuck there for another hour and finally made it by 1:15 am. I feel the next breakthrough technology in cars should be flotation.
What did i lose in this whole process :
2 hours of rainfall and the city is converted to a lake, such is the appalling condition of city's infrastructure. What is the government doing with all my tax money ? Today's newspaper reported that Rs 110 crores was spent on drains, looks like its gone down the drain. If i was so furious about being stuck for 2 hours, i'm scared to even imagine the condition of people whose houses were flooded. So here's a proposition, i should get a reimbursement of damages caused, in terms of tax rebate.
A friend asked me what my birthday resolution was and i had none, to mention, but now i have more than one :
Anyway, lets continue with the story. I started from Indira Nagar, where i was treating my friends for my birthday, at 11:15 pm. It was pouring and i could barely see whats in front. When we reached the flyover, i saw cars coming back in the wrong direction, the drivers were frustrated and were shouting, i thought its the normal road rage, 'coz i didn't let them go. I continued and soon realized it that the poor souls were warning me about a jam ahead. When i realized, I made a U-turn and switched on my parking lights and started coming back, others followed me but instead of staying behind me they tried to overtake me and there we were, STUCK. There was little place where, the car next to me could've moved and we could've escaped but people think they're warriors when they're on road and retreat is defeat. Next moment i saw an auto filling that place, I was already disgusted. I shouted at the auto driver and he told me "Madam anyway noone's moving" It was beyond me to reply to that. We waited in a stand still for 20 minutes. Everyone was hoping someone would come to rescue and so they preferred to remain in the luxury of their cars. Finally my patience gave up, it generally does quite often ;-) , and i called 100 for help. I took an umbrella and got down. I was trying to regulate the traffic when a couple of more people came including a policeman, they told me get back into the car and we escaped from there. In the process I SPOILED MY SILK CHAPPALS. And since men dont wear silk chappals they should've got down and regulated the traffic. So next time someone boasts about machismo, think twice.
The misery wasn't over yet. A friend gave a wise suggestion that we take some road, completely unknown to me. I had only been there once, when i was lost, so i was skeptical. But anyway since i thought he knows more of bangalore roads than me, i agreed. The next ten minute drive was smooth. Then i could see streams. Then I could not see the road i was driving on, there was water all over. Lots of cars had broken down and contributed to the social gathering of vehicles, on road. Condition became worse just before the national games village, there was a pond. There was water everywhere and appeared like a doomsday. And in such conditions, instead of being wise, people were driving like bats out of, you know where. I was so frustrated that i could've thrashed somebody and my language was getting bad to worse. We were stuck there for another hour and finally made it by 1:15 am. I feel the next breakthrough technology in cars should be flotation.
What did i lose in this whole process :
- peace of mind
- fuel
- the front number plate of my car, which broke and fell somewhere.
- my favourite silk chappals
2 hours of rainfall and the city is converted to a lake, such is the appalling condition of city's infrastructure. What is the government doing with all my tax money ? Today's newspaper reported that Rs 110 crores was spent on drains, looks like its gone down the drain. If i was so furious about being stuck for 2 hours, i'm scared to even imagine the condition of people whose houses were flooded. So here's a proposition, i should get a reimbursement of damages caused, in terms of tax rebate.
A friend asked me what my birthday resolution was and i had none, to mention, but now i have more than one :
- celebrate my birthday at home.
- never offer to drive, especially when its raining or is about to
- never wear silk chappals when its raining.
Comments
apart from my "glorious" destiny