It
is when the sounds of continuous horns still ringing in your head, while you
are having a peaceful shower after a tough expedition from Panjagutta to
Kukatpally, that you have surpassed all forms of traffic, tolerated a variety
of people who have no clue how to drive and yet are on the streets, and have
taken way too much smoke into your nostrils. It is then that you have learnt
the ultimate art of driving through the roads of Hyderabad.
Hyderabad?
Well, yes. I just described what it is to drive in the city of Nizams. To every
Hyderabadi, I am sure this write up relates strongly to the most familiar
aspects of your daily life, but to every non Hyderabadi, brace yourselves to
read the plight of a common citizen and her muddle with traffic.
When
I moved to Hyderabad in 2004, all I heard about this city was its grandeur, its
history, its splendid tourist destinations and of course, the lip smacking
food. Yes, that is what perfectly
describes the city of Salarjung, but if someone asked me today, apart from
these, and probably the first thing I would mention would be “Traffic”. But why
hasn’t anybody mentioned this to me back then? Maybe at that point of time, to
people traffic was almost nonexistent and merely a trivial thing. Those were
good old days when roads were free and less crowded and those were good old
days when people used public transport.
Today
in 2016, traffic in Hyderabad is what one dreads to the core! As I was driving
back home from a hectic day of work today, all that I could do was crib about
how things were and secretly curse under my breath. There have been many
instances when I just wanted to give up driving and sit on the side of the
road, but then my safety? Well, that is another aspect altogether.
I
keep wondering if it’s everybody, or just me? Am I the only one who finds
millions of potholes on the road and am I the only one who has a problem with
buses and autos stopping right in the middle of the road? With an experience of
a year’s driving I could classify the different kinds of people you find on a
road:
1. The one who doesn’t
know that an indicator exists and that he/she could use it. (well maybe, we
should start planting hoardings requesting people to use Indicators)
2. The one who
decides to drive in the worst possible manner, but doesn’t realize that he
could see into the rear-view mirror before doing so. (Well, maybe he thinks
mirrors are just to see how one looks)
3. Most annoying
are the people who keep honking at a signal. (Next time someone does that to
me, I have decided to educate him/her on traffic lights and tell them that red
means STOP)
As a common citizen, I could go on rambling about what annoys me,
but the most important thing would be to analyze what’s going wrong. For the
last two years, I did use public transport for commute, and I thought that was
the most strenuous thing – the process-
wait for a bus, board the bus, if you’re lucky you have a seat or have fun
standing- adjust to the sudden brakes- bear with the conductor etc. But now I have
second thoughts. Driving on my own certainly makes me feel independent, but
nothing’s better than public transport.
With metro constructions on almost every road, the already narrow
roads have become narrower. Even after
so much thought about this, I still have no clue about what can be done to
reduce this. The amount of frustration I experience while I’m driving, I certainly
do not want others to. In the last five years, it seems like the roads are
being eaten up inch by inch.
After one of the toughest battles with traffic today, I have made
up my mind, public transport is my choice!
