Driving on Delhi roads is no less adventerous than say bun-jee jumping or river rafting or even a highly charged up video game. Its Heart skipping... emotional..and a whole lot of fun in a sadistic way.
A typical day -
Start your journey to wherever it is you want to go by making some necessary checks-
Seat belts .... Check!
Hand break down... Check!
Mirrors in place .... Check!
Key in ignition ... Check!
Fuel tank filled just about enough so that you dont get stranded halfway ... Check!
Take a deep breath and make a small prayer so that you get out of this alive...Check!
So now you're driving along merrily, Check your rear view mirrors.. No cars..bikes..bullock-carts...tempos...autorickshaws or even cows on your trail ? Good !! but dont get all relaxad as yet, here's the turn that takes you into the busiest road, well! come to think of it even the narrowest gulley looks like the whole damn world is in it! So,you're making your way along this road and here's when you got to be on full alert. Thank God you're strapped on safely..Umm.. on second thoughts I think you should wear a helmet and a safety jacket too.. you never know what might strike and from which direction!!
So now that you've entered what can also be called a battlefield, there are a couple of rules-
> Driving straight and sticking to your lane WILL get you killed for sure!
> If your way is blocked by a bullock-cart, auto-rickshaw, bike or even a leisurely cow and you DONT swear, scream or honk your brains out.. well! Tch Tch...not only is this a Foul, you are missing out all the sadistic pleasure you can possibly feel by not doing so.
> Ignore all signboards telling you to control your speed limit, No U turns, No overtaking etc. All hogwash if you ask me.They were just put there to beautify the city. (you see, Trees take too long to grow) Trust me on this.
> 100 Bonus points for Jumping the Red signal.
> 10000 Bonus points for Speeding... (wooohoo.. whooshing past..okay.. ahem! )
> 10000 Bonus points if you can zigzag your way through the traffic without bumping into another vehicle.
> JACKPOT- If you can dodge the traffic cops for adherence to all of the above.
Ok so? What is it with Delhiites and their traffic sense or lack of it ?
Methinks its Patriotism to blame, this love thy country thingy. The "Treat Bharat Ma as your own.. take care of her as your own" feeling overflowing in people's hearts. As a result we think that everything in the city including the roads are our personal property! And since its all mine I'll treat it any way i want.I'll drive straight, backwards,.zigzag...heck! even horizontally.. I'll spit and pee anywhere I like.. what's your problem ?
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Dream on...
Its been a while since I scribbled something on my blog.. I realised its been rejected far too long and if you're thinking this is probably an prologue to a new story I've written.. you're wrong... my mind's completely blank on that front ..and if you're waiting for one then its going to be a while. ( im guessing you dont really care, who am I kiddin!) However if you are interested, then I must tell you I am on a reading spree.. I recently joined the library at work and that's been keeping me busy But I'm not going to talk about the books I've been reading ,no matter how entertaining they were.
Ever since I finished the last story.. (one that I'm not really excited about) I've been wanting to write a highly charged, emotional and thought provoking story.. No! nothing heavy like lost family values, poverty or the life in war torn Afghanistan .. I'll take my time getting there. Recently I watched this movie on HBO - "The Ice Princess" The story is about Casey who is in high school and who's one & only dream is to be an Ice Skater. She lives with her mum who strongly disapproves of the sport because of its short shelf life and wants her to focus all her attention in getting into Harvard. So,she sneaks out whenever she can to practice skating and during this course comes across a teacher and daughter duo. The teacher is a perfectionist and is coaching her own daughter to be a skater.The story progresses to show how both these young ladies are striving for something that is not thier dream but thier mothers'. The teacher's dream was to be a ice skater and since she could'nt realise that dream she pushes her daughter to pursue it . Same bieng the case for Casey, who's mother's dream has been to go to Harvard and wants Casey to complete that dream for her. As the story progesses further, Casey realises that even though she loves Ice skating , she's just about average at it but since she is passionate about it she wants to give it one shot.. one big effort to see how far she can push herself. So, she rejects Harvard and tells her mum " I'm giving up on your dream. I'm going after mine." Her mother is heartbroken and thier relationship is strained from there. Even though Casey realises that she hurt her mother, she continues with her skating in the hope that if her mother just saw her skate one time, she would realise too how passionate she is about it. Anyway, at the end, all the hardwork and commitment pays off and she gets the silver at a Interstate ice skating competition and her mother is there to witness it. All's well that ends well.
In India (i'm sure it happens elsewhere too), most parents want thier sons / daughters to pursue a field of thier choice, live a dream they had to abandon because they had to do something that got them the money but no job satisfaction. So, they slogged all thier lives to be financially secure and then looked upon thier children to realise thier long lost dream of becoming a Doctor or Engineer or something else. Considering all that our parents have done for us, taking on thier dream seems like a small price to pay or maybe its just easier to give in or maybe seems selfish not to do so.It definetly takes a whole lot of guts to stand up for your dreams when there are so many expectations out of you. I'm not saying one should go against what our parents want out of us, but one should atleast make an effort to reach out and have the courage to stand up for one's dream. If not anything, atleast a chance to know for ourselves if the dream we had is our destiny or not. We owe that much to ourselves.
“The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream.... It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin."
— Benjamin Elijah Mays, American educator and president of Morehouse College (1895-1984)
Ever since I finished the last story.. (one that I'm not really excited about) I've been wanting to write a highly charged, emotional and thought provoking story.. No! nothing heavy like lost family values, poverty or the life in war torn Afghanistan .. I'll take my time getting there. Recently I watched this movie on HBO - "The Ice Princess" The story is about Casey who is in high school and who's one & only dream is to be an Ice Skater. She lives with her mum who strongly disapproves of the sport because of its short shelf life and wants her to focus all her attention in getting into Harvard. So,she sneaks out whenever she can to practice skating and during this course comes across a teacher and daughter duo. The teacher is a perfectionist and is coaching her own daughter to be a skater.The story progresses to show how both these young ladies are striving for something that is not thier dream but thier mothers'. The teacher's dream was to be a ice skater and since she could'nt realise that dream she pushes her daughter to pursue it . Same bieng the case for Casey, who's mother's dream has been to go to Harvard and wants Casey to complete that dream for her. As the story progesses further, Casey realises that even though she loves Ice skating , she's just about average at it but since she is passionate about it she wants to give it one shot.. one big effort to see how far she can push herself. So, she rejects Harvard and tells her mum " I'm giving up on your dream. I'm going after mine." Her mother is heartbroken and thier relationship is strained from there. Even though Casey realises that she hurt her mother, she continues with her skating in the hope that if her mother just saw her skate one time, she would realise too how passionate she is about it. Anyway, at the end, all the hardwork and commitment pays off and she gets the silver at a Interstate ice skating competition and her mother is there to witness it. All's well that ends well.
In India (i'm sure it happens elsewhere too), most parents want thier sons / daughters to pursue a field of thier choice, live a dream they had to abandon because they had to do something that got them the money but no job satisfaction. So, they slogged all thier lives to be financially secure and then looked upon thier children to realise thier long lost dream of becoming a Doctor or Engineer or something else. Considering all that our parents have done for us, taking on thier dream seems like a small price to pay or maybe its just easier to give in or maybe seems selfish not to do so.It definetly takes a whole lot of guts to stand up for your dreams when there are so many expectations out of you. I'm not saying one should go against what our parents want out of us, but one should atleast make an effort to reach out and have the courage to stand up for one's dream. If not anything, atleast a chance to know for ourselves if the dream we had is our destiny or not. We owe that much to ourselves.
“The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream.... It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin."
— Benjamin Elijah Mays, American educator and president of Morehouse College (1895-1984)
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