Jungle Tales

With blaring horns,blinding high beams,lane cutting and road rage,Indian roads are like a jungle without the rules

If ever somebody draws up a list of Indias favourite pastimes,this one would make it to the top 10 Driving on high beam. There are other contenders too honking and rude lane cutting,jumping lights and double parking. Driving at a low beam is a sign of a meek driver,points out television anchor Sanjay Narayan Patankar sarcastically. So is lane driving,following the speed limit,using the horn sparingly,giving way to folks on the right,stopping for a pedestrian and allowing a wailing ambulance to overtake.

Follow the rules and a fellow commuter will stare down at you as if youre committing a crime by waiting for the light to turn green, says Prabhdeep Brar,assistant professor at the University Institute of Fashion Technology about what he calls the real great Indian driving challenge. The heavy load of vehicles and lack of a desperately needed public transport only makes things worse. Author Khushwant Singh says he can pen a novella on the horrors of driving on Indian roads with the first chapter being on pressure horns. There has to be law against it,for after some point it sounds like an abuse, he adds.

Pancham Prashar,Sarthak Aggarwal and Avneet Sethi,co-founders of CueBlocks Technologies,find the horn not okay. Indians love honking till birds,animals and fellow commuters turn deaf, they say. Auto expert and columnist H Kishie Singh agrees. The second,the light turns green,everyone starts to honk. Then,there are the chabeels ( the religious roadside tents) which cause jams and litter, he says. Interior designer Annu Bains has her own list of worries: Women refuse to wear helmets,trucks on highways are a nightmare and god forbid if you are stuck in traffic at a city rotary. Beetle Club member Pritpal Matharu says that policemen who jump out of nowhere to challan helmet-less drivers add to the commotion. They forget that someones driving behind that scooterist and can bump into him, he says.

Singh says the problems can be solved through common sense You do not slow down in the middle of the road,you pull over and take the call. You do not drive through puddles and harass pedestrians. According to Billy Gill of Chandigarh Offroaders Club,enforcement and education is are the keys to drilling road sense into drivers.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Loading Taboola...

Wankhede has claimed that the series disseminates a misleading and negative portrayal of anti-drug enforcement agencies, thereby eroding public confidence in law enforcement institutions.

‘Intent to malign reputation’: Sameer Wankhede moves Delhi HC against Aryan Khan

Cities3 hr ago

IRS officer Sameer Wankhede filed a defamation suit against the production company, Netflix, and others for the "misleading" and "negative" portrayal of anti-drug agencies in the series 'Ba****ds of Bollywood'. He claims the series was deliberately made to tarnish his reputation and erode public confidence in law enforcement institutions.

View all shorts

Live Blog