Thursday, November 25, 2010

The Slowest Link

I just drove down from Mussorie to Delhi. It took me 9 hours to traverse the distance of 270 kms on a national highway, which translates into an average speed of 30 kms per hour. I am wondering if I am a really pathetic driver!!!

“Well!” I tell myself, “How the hell do you expect yourself to beat the swarming tractors, bullock carts and the local mobile contraptions pacing the pathetic two lane highways at their own idyllic speeds?  Even the trucks and the killer buses have to swallow their pride and follow them in humility.”





I recall witnessing countless number of tractors, and motorbikes driving the wrong way, and each time spending a couple of minutes in recovering from the shock of it. Motorists braving the onslaught of bicycles and carts and swerving dangerously in a bid to avoid them! Two wheelers refusing to budge from the middle of the roads

A car had stopped in the middle of the road while the driver was blissfully chatting on his mobile and blowing puffs of smoke in air. Tractor owners exchanged greetings, completely unconcerned about the traffic queuing up behind them.

Women holding small children waited anxiously for a gap in traffic so they could race across the highway. Old men on bicycles were trying to cross the road completely oblivious of the traffic. At one point, a bullock attached to a cart full of sugarcane harvest stubbornly refused to move. It was certainly a mad mix of heavy vehicles, pedestrians, bullock carts and bicycles.

Many a time, the state of roads made me wonder if I was driving on a highway or a jungle path.

I quizzed my travel companion in frustration, “What is the purpose of the highways? Were they designed for this juxtaposition of snail-paced vehicles and fast-moving vehicles? What are the bullock carts doing amongst heavy vehicles and cars? Are we always going to follow the pace of the slowest ones? Is that forever going to be the policy of our country?”

1 comment:

  1. The road that you are talking about falls along the sugar cane belt of UP. Only way to shorten travel time on it is by starting very early in the morning. Otherwise, you will see tractors loaded with sugar canes which bring down the average speed drastically.

    That said, you've made your point with the question "..follow the pace of the closest ones?". I wrestle with this question day in and day out with no answer.

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