The Alien World

I have been a strong advocate of following traffic rules. Indians have the best of brains in the world and I recently got a mail which tried to prove so by giving the statistics of number of Indian doctors in US, number of scientist of Indian Origin, or number of people who get H1B visa from India. And I don’t deny the fact that we Indians are sharp and are good learners.

That was the rosy side, but let’s faces this – other side of the story is not as beautiful. Rather I will say that it is too ugly to be shown to anyone. And we all should be ashamed of that.

Now, since I have given some vent to my anger and frustration, let’s talk about the actual subject. Over the last couple of months I have been observing a sharp increase in the traffic situation in Hyderabad. The city is close on its heels to becoming another disaster like Bangalore – Bad to worst roads and never improving traffic sense of hyderabadi drivers. The result is long traffic jams, rise in number of impatient people and above all loss of money.

Below are some key observations:
-    2 months back it took me 20-25 minutes to drive from my home to office, around 14 kms.
o    Today, the time has increased to 45 minutes
o    Even if I start as early as 8:30 AM, it takes 30 minutes
-    2 months back my car gave an average of 17 kmpl
o    Today it gives around 12 kmpl

Based on this if I calculate the loss of time than that comes to 40 to 60 minutes a day, which amount to roughly 20 hours a month.

Let’s see about the fuel – I am spending roughly around .5 liters extra everyday, which results in consuming an extra 10 liters a month. This doesn’t end here. Consuming more fuel also means that our contribution to global warming has also increased. This is the story of just me, imagine now for all the vehicles on the road.

So who is the culprit right now? Bad city planning, bad roads and worst drivers. Combine all three and you will find our new Hyderabad. All drains have been closed in the name of road expansion. Uneven roads with no proper slopes and water exits lead to water clogging. Potholes at some places are 1ft deep. After every rain, you may find a new pothole on the road.

And what are out local civic bodies doing? I guess enjoying mansoon and having samosa, mirchi bhaaji & tea.

According to one story, the world has roughly only enough fossil fuel to sustain for next 40 years. That study was done 5 years back. So what are we doing now? We are increasing the rate of consumption, why wait for another 40 years, lets finish it fast is the new mantra!!! Imagine a world without OIL in your lifetime. Life will be so calm, no traffic, no pollution. Back to stone age!

I did not liked it when Arundhati Roy said that “Kashmir needs freedom from India and India need freedom from Kashmir”, but the fact is that Kashmir has been a cause of problem for us since Independence. There are two ways of looking at the problem:

First, in medical terms amputation is a common phenomenon. It has been practiced since ages.  If a body part cannot be cured, then it has to be removed so that it does not poison other parts of the body. We say that Kashmir is an Integral part of India. It is deceased and the government of India is trying to find a cure since 1947. 61 years have been passed and yet there is no sign of finding any cure in near future. The fact is that there may be no cure at all, mainly because of unwillingness to find the cure from both the sides. Religion and caste play a more important role in Indian politics than the welfare of people, state & country.

Second, remember movie Majboor in which Amitabh Bachchan suffers from a terminal brain tumor and doctor tell him that there is very less likelihood of operation to be successful, and he may die if the tumor is removed. The same is the case with us – and I am reiterating it – Kashmir is an Integral part of India. Separating it from the country is not the part of the solution. More importantly, if it is separated, than it may set a trend for others to follow – Today Kashmir, tomorrow North East, than some other state. And we will again find us in same situation as pre-Independence.

So what is the solution? Remove our neighbor from the map?

Friends …. it is high time that we should start participating in building our country. The very first step to it is selecting the right candidates for the parliament. After watching the ‘no confidence’ motion on TV last month, I cursed all politicians but when I gave a thought I felt myself equally responsible for the situation. For many of us, election day is a national holiday. A large percentage of us are not even registered as Voters. On any election day we plan to take a vacation, go out and relax. We have to change this attitude and have to understand our responsibilities as a citizen. Also, at the same time these politicians should not take us for granted, there politic majorly rely only on religion, regional and caste.

The more we actively participate in the electoral system, the more we will rise above all these issues.  Every state has it’s office of ‘The Chief Electoral Officer’, also for each state there is separate website from where you can get more detailed information and forms to get your voter i-card. If you google “The Chief Electoral Officer of <state name>” you will find that states website. Below is the list of forms that you need to fill in order to get your name registered in voter’s list and for voter’s i-card.

The above forms are links to Electoral Office of AP, but the forms are same across India, so you can download from anywhere.

Also read: Parliament or Fish Market