A road rage drama

Often I’ve heard my friends, from other parts of the country, extol our City’s splendour. “Wow! Bangalore! What an exquisite place! Salubrious weather! Loads of bonhomie among people! Great opportunities galore!” Just when you are feeling heady, taking in these rhapsodies, pat comes the punch line, “Except for the traffic snarls…”

Indeed, it boggles one’s mind to think how at times, some trifling issues can trigger some terrible traffic snarls. Once, I happened to see a motorist, zipping ahead at full pelt. Lo! Bolt from the blue, a stray pup made an appearance, bang before his vehicle. While the pup, making a nifty move, hopped on to the pavement, after much dodging, the motorist made a head-on collision against the kerb, in the process, knocking down couple of parked vehicles.

Meanwhile, a cyclist who had made a grand entry with his undulating sway, (and his eyes frozen on the aforesaid dramatic scene), hadn’t noticed a passer-by, who too was intently watching the same scene with transfixed gaze. Needless to say, the cyclist scared the daylights out of him, hitting him hard from behind. Apparently what ensued were two simultaneous flaming frays - the first fight between the motorist and the knocked off vehicle’s owner; and the second one between the cyclist and the badly bruised passer-by.

The aggressive attitude in people manifested as each one hollered against the other in strident tones, which obviously sparked off a chain reaction. Liberal use of abuses spawned angry retorts and recriminations, all of which precipitated in more pandemonium. The watchers-on thronged everywhere, as if it were some mega entertainment show, thus compounding the chaos. All around, vehicles came to a halt, culminating in a massive traffic-snarl.

Beholding these I began mulling. Why are we so egoistic not to let the bygones be bygones? Why do we feel it is infra-dig to our image to make way for others? We are so obstinate that we don’t mind being inconvenienced, so long as others too are! Actually, more than the real impediments, stymieing the smooth flow of traffic, it's this attitude of ours that often ignites the intractable chaos on roads. Perhaps a whit of empathy and consideration could make a tangible difference in alleviating the woes of traffic snarls.