one rainy day!!!

Rains... are cherishable for most of us... a treat in hot summers, God's blessings to farmers, a new game for kids and a reason to go out and enjoy the good weather. Well, I won't be surprised, if you don't agree to the last point completely. Being brought up in Chandigarh is altogether a different experience. It is the only city in India with most of the systems quite organized. "What is so different about this small town??" he asked. I say, we dont have water-logged roads during rains!!!!

August 23rd, 2010 : My day began with a drizzle in early morning. It was quite a relief as days were usually very hot and sunny. Gradually, till the time I got ready and was about to leave for office, rains started pouring heavily. I was least bothered when I took out my car, as I knew, still chandigarh roads would be as clean as ever.

And I was not wrong either. However, I missed on one thing that my destination was Mohali i.e. my office was in Mohali. Mohali is a city adjacent to Chandigarh. I happily reached Mohali within 20 mins, and as I entered Mohali, it was all drowned in water. I was afraid, as I was a novice driver on flooded roads. One thing I was aware was, never to stop the car engine and also keep pressing the accelerator. It paid. I kept moving and moving. I observed, the left side of the road was the deeper side and avoided moving to that lane. But it was not that easy. Everyone was wise enough to make this observation. :). Also, there were stuck cars in between to pose the hurdles in the race.

Somehow I reached a traffic light with a long standing queue. Till that time, I had told my inner conscious, you cant run away so easily, so be patient. The traffic lights turned green, but to my dismay, traffic dint move an inch. Green turned Red, Red to green and green to red. But no body was moving. Finally it moved inch by inch to a point I observed that a big bus was stuck in between the traffic and a complete deadlock situation was there. Cars who wanted to go to right were just stuck as the cars coming from right had blocked the whole road. I understand that was not fair for people who wanted to go to right, but what was the point still sticking to it. They were blocking the traffic in other directions as well. Similar was the situation on left side as well.Aaahh!!! sometimes we the educated behave so illiterate... Our side and Front side were better because of a divider.

Anyhow, I was left stuck there pressing the accelerator and observing the scene around. The traffic lights were playing 3-color game with themselves. One camera-man was enjoying taking photographs of the deadlock scene, and interviewing people in trouble. People were honking uselessly like idiots as if their honks would build up their private flyover for them to cross. Or you may never know, their car may start flying!!!
And guess what, I saw one traffic police trying to save himself from the showers under a tree. Truly and professionally, he was ON duty. Controlling the traffic was traffic lights duty I guess.

Anyhow, I saw one policeman controlling the traffic now. A sigh of relief! Suddenly I noticed he was stopping traffic from all other directions except one. There was his jeep with a red light on the top. As soon as his jeep was out of the traffic, he sat and drove off.

Some people were coming forward to control the traffic, but again it was until their vehicle is out. Justified enough! Finally our turn also came up. somebody from our block of traffic cleared for us. And after 2 hours of turmoil, I was free. By that time, water levels were quite low and sky clear. But not my mind it was left with ever lingering thoughts. Was the problem solved?? Why cant we as responsible drivers, anticipate the problem and move in a systematized way? That would save our energy, time and resources as well.
Is there a solution to it??? Well, I cant think of any, unless we all change ourselves, move out of our individual frames and think about the bigger picture at times.

Lessons Learnt:
- Move ahead your vehicle only if the way is clear. Believe me there is no fun standing a little ahead and being a trouble for others as well.
- Please please do not honk in a traffic jam. The vehicle ahead is also stuck as much as you are. It wont do anything good for you either.
- If you see the way you want to go is blocked by the traffic on that side, please it would be good to think of another alternative way to reach your destination. You wont feel good being a blocker for all.
- Everyone is in hurry, and wants to move. You need to understand the fact that its not only you who is in some special hurry.

Thank you for reading with patience :)