ROAD BLUES........

“Where on Earth is the button?!!” lady 1 was asking lady 2 when I arrived at the zebra crossing on the Margao road. Lady 2 gave Lady 1 an ‘are you from planet mars’ look.
Lady 1, an old lady bundled up in a rain coat, helplessly looked at her son (or grandson) and exclaimed, “Are we ever going to cross this road?”

It was obvious from her accent that she was not an Indian. I figured out she was looking for the signalized pedestrian crossing; A pole with a button at the pedestrian crossing area which sends out an alert to the vehicles on the road to stop and let the people cross. Finally……………the fact that traffic police are substitutes for such pedestrian crossings in India dawned upon the lady’s son (or grandson). The lady definitely did not like the absence of the signal and the presence of a traffic police officer who obviously wasn’t serving the purpose of helping people cross the road.
The fact that her bright fluorescent raincoat matched the officer’s raincoat did not help.

Anyway…..I was waiting with the whole lot of people to cross the road when suddenly two versions of me: angel me and devil me popped up around my head!!
Angel me started saying, “why can’t we have a pedestrian crossing system which enables people to cross roads without the fear of becoming prey to berserk vehicles?” immediately the devil me replied, ““Just because you’ve had fun pressing those buttons in Sweden doesn’t mean you have to look down on the traffic system here! Besides, how LONG do you think those poles would last against our good old buses and trucks?”
To which the angel me quickly replied, “The traffic police officers aren’t exactly helpful. Of course they are there during the rush hours but what about the afternoons? The officers disappear in the afternoon for their lunch hour (which lasts more than an hour actually) and they aren’t present on the road at late nights too!”
With this, both of them popped off as suddenly as they had appeared!

The fact is, sometimes these traffic police officers aren’t present at the pedestrian crossing during rush hours too! Just a few days back I was standing at the same zebra crossing at 6pm in the evening. No need to mention to my fellow margao-ites what the traffic situation is at that time. A lady desperate to cross the road (yes I only meet grumbling ladies at the zebra crossing) was muttering out aloud “ho police huy aha re?”!!!! (Where is the officer?). That mystery was never solved. How we managed to cross the road is a different story.

Its about time this stopped! A road mishap will not time itself to the traffic officer’s duty hours!

PHEEEEEEEEE….The traffic police blew his whistle signaling the vehicles to stop and let us cross after what seemed like an eternity. I snapped out of my tête-à-tête with myself. Lady 1, her son (or grandson) and lady 2 and all the others including me crossed the road…………..

Just as I managed to cross the road I couldn’t help but laugh at Lady 1’s ignorance about the Indian roads…..boy, did she need a lesson on it or what! I wasn’t even done enjoying the joke when ……………….WHOOSH….
I FELL DOWN!! How?? BLAME THE POT HOLES!!!!!!
Do NOT get me started on them now………