U never really appreciate something, until you start living without it....I never for once thought, i would miss the traffic in Bangalore this much..Being in a country which runs on a
"car culture", u will start missing a few familiar sights and sounds from Bangalore...like the trademark drone of an auto rickshaw running on kerosene or the honking of the "musically inclined" lorry drivers....Maybe i should have recorded a few noises to remind me of home. :)
In spite of all the cars zipping around the roads, life on the road as a pedestrian is not as hard as it seems....if he doesn't stop for me when I'm crossing the road, i can sue him..if he honks, i can sue him...if he drives the car too close to me, i can sue him...if i don't like the colour of his car, i can sue him...so basically, I'm the king of the road!!!!(and of course i was kidding about the colour part :D) What the hell, i can even walk blindfolded!! :)
so, guys if u r coming to America and u luv walking (like me)...u will have the time of your life :)
The funniest rule of all though is the part where i can file a law suit against the guy if i feel his driving is in someway scaring me...if he turns suddenly,stops suddenly,drives too close to me, i can haul his sorry ass to jail..
Seriously, we would all die if this rule was implemented in India...The BMTC bus drivers are experts in nanotechnology...that's the distance they leave when they stop behind you! and i dont even have to get started on the matrix style stunts of our auto drivers....i think all my reflexes became lightning quick after i started driving amidst auto rickshaws :) :)
Oh, what the hell, the first thing I'm gonna do when i come back to India, is drive really close to an auto and listen to the driver's choicest of expletives..ah,music to my ears :)
Why all this blah blah on the American traffic system?? Well, it so happens that this dude wanted to get to the USPS(United States post office), to pick up a parcel from back home (mane thindi...yummm)..and he has this amazing compass in this brain which lets him get lost even in his own apartment complex (its confusing,cmon!)...so he gets a printout of the route map from google maps (god bless google!) and heads out on a cycle..its 2.3 miles on the tiny inner roads after all (3.7km), piece of cake...
He goes cycling for about 40mins and suddenly realises hes hopelessly lost (it took 40 mins to figure it out?!?!)...what would you generally do? ask somebody for directions....well..thers not a person walking around for miles and all the cars are zooming on..windows up, AC on full blast, eyes and ears trained on the GPS (greatest technological gift to America..huh!)......It was much simpler back home, drive up to an auto rickshaw (i'm just missing those darn things too much!!) , shoot up a question, "guru kadrenhalli yavkade", for which you would get an accurate and highly detailed driving instructions...all of this whilst riding next to him! :) :)....
So he curses his sense of direction, curses America, curses the guy who invented GPS ...heads back home (thankfully its 1 straight road!) , replenishes his drained energy and heads back on the road, with undeterred determination (mane thindi aase :D )...
U cant blame the poor guy for getting lost...Ok, if u r at the intersection of 4 roads, and there is a board hanging from the signal right in front of you, which says "Saturn lane" ...u would normally go straight to go to Saturn lane...well, apparently, at a junction, a sign board in "front" of you on American roads tell u the name of the road you would be on if you took a right turn or a left turn..wow!! i would like to meet the genius who thought of that!!! there should be atleast an arrow pointing to the left or the right after the name...huh!
Finally, by sheer instinct and pure luck, the guy finds his way to the post office, gets the parcel (worth more than its weight in gold) and heads back home...aching thighs,sore butt, a little wiser perhaps...Well, m not saying the guy in the story is me, nor am i saying it isn't me....just that I'm missing the chaos of Indian traffic..
Signing out [my butt still hurts :( ]
7 comments:
LOL!! Dont blame the poor sign boards.. You get lost even in RV campus!! :P :P :P U r missing "your" GPS arent you? :P :P: P:P :P
Too good da......nice to hear of all the stuff from half way around the world...excellent blog.....!!!!I know you posted the pic of that car to tease me,u think i didnt get it!This is WAR!!!1...:)....
Never thought anyone would miss the indian traffic!! LOL! Nice one again! :)
Haha! If you are so missing auto driver's samskruta, i will make a personalized one for you and send it across ;)
Dude, everyday I curse this traffic as I travel to and from home and you, out there, are missing it! Amazing!
Keep up the good writing! Thumbs up to you! :)
Maga, by the way, had gone to match two days ago. I mean cricket match. That thing they play with a bat like thing ;) ;)
@ noodles - i get lost in the library :(i am missing my personal GPS :(
@Anil - macha, i have a few more pics of modified mustangs,rolls royce..etc..etc.. will put em up later..
@hari- maga kannada baygala keli tumba divsa aaytu... :)
loaper...i play cricket here almost everyday..and i learnt american futball as well. :)
I wonder GPS is the code for what ;)
Maga, being there you play cricket almost everyday and being here I dont get to play :( Very sad :(
And American football is Rugby type aa? SRK in DDLJ, Meri khwabon mein jo aaye song ishtyle?? :)
hari.. GPS stand for gube peddu srihari..
like i said..i found more indian diversity here in rochester than in blore.. in correlation to abhi playing cricket in houston.. :P
anil.. THIS IS SPARTA!!
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