Highway to Hell

Highway to Hell

Not the AC/DC song, but the tale of hell on our highways.

I feel I must acknowledge that there are probably VERY few exceptions.


Buses 

Constituting the major chunk of public transport oft gives them the right to stop anywhere on the road. Leftist, Rightist or center, you dare not question them. More often than not they realize at the last minute to take a turn and of course end up taking a mute turn.

Bikes

Zipping across the roads at speeds not less than 90kmph is considered an insult. They have superpowers to squeeze through gaps which even mice would find daunting. Add the callousness towards traffic rules and the compelling need to demonstrate their dexterity in biking skills by driving with one hand, wheeling etc ,  you have a disastrous mixture for perennial accidents ready!

Horns 

Jarring sounds resonating throughout the road effectively masking the direction of origin. Best way to get on someones nerve on the road. The power of this is truly felt when the traffic doesn’t move despite the green signal.

Potholes 

Disrupts the social hierarchy of power. Whether you own a Benz or a Bajaj scooter or whatever be the horsepower of your ego, potholes don’t flatten. A scooter simply overtakes a truck by swinging left and the latter is left behind lagging.

Pedestrians  

Ever deaf, non-caring jaywalkers. Given that the roads come from the tax payers money, they somehow have it in their heads that they are to be proclaimed "kings of the road" and every one else HAS to stop to give them way!

Traffic lights  

It is hard to believe that these 3 small round lights can be such tortuous testers of patience. The mad acceleration to just make it to the signal and the cussing and the anxious wait that follows for the signal to turn green. Sometimes ignored by the users of road who seem to follow the lights flashing in front of their eyes.
 

Animals 

The roads belong to man and animals alike; Such is the reverence shown that, the entire traffic diverts itself to accommodate a family of cud-chewing buffaloes/cows out on their evening stroll. In effect the holy cow becomes the cop and the cop a holy cow.

Parking Facilities  

Eternally full and even if you are lucky enough to spot a vacancy, one needs to be cunning to snap the place. If you think getting in is hard, getting out of these is even worse. Searching frantically for the parking slip and cutting across lines of parked vehicles, you would heave a sigh of relief to be out of these.

Roads 

With the combination of all the above, they know no bias. These maligned roads with their potholes, manholes and speed breakers are strict enforcers of liberty, equality and fraternity. Also, they seem to serve those who stand and wait, the best!

Long live the roads!

Blogging and Freedom Of Expression

Expressing one’s thoughts and views was earlier restricted to the family or a set of few close friends unless the person was a public speaker with good credentials or a celebrity to whom people would bother to listen to. Envelopes were in vogue those days with information sealed and addressed to a particular sender. The exceptions were writers and journalists who knew what they were writing. All this was before the advent of the internet and before personal computers had much more to do than just personal things.

When Internet took over, e-mails replaced letters in the twinkling of an eye. Nowadays it is very rare to come across people who take effort to write long lengthy letters and post it. The new phenomenon of “blogging” has come to spread opinions and information at speeds and magnitudes which were unknown earlier. It has taken off as a low-cost (rather free) way for individuals to publish online. It is just enough to own a personal computer or a laptop connected to internet to make your voice heard!

That brings us back to the issue of “expressing one’s thoughts” – the freedom of expression which virtually has no limits whatsoever. When attempting to publish blogs, people tend to narrate experiences from daily life which may indirectly point fingers. As long as the sensitivities of the issue and feelings of the people referred to are taken into consideration, there will not be any controversies. There have been several discussions on whether the content of such blogs have to be regulated or not. I personally feel doing so would be denying the right to freedom of expression. Especially when blogs are viewpoints of the writer and are a means to showcase the writer’s passion, regulation of content would be discouraging.

Let bloggers blog! And in peace! We do not require any attention!!