Our city is on the highway to hell
As the New Year rolls in, I find myself going over my new year resolution list. Like many of my friends who are optimists (even if the looming elections make things a tad gloomy) I always look forward to the new year with hope and yes, expectations. So here is my Delhi wish list for 2015.
An urban malaise, the growing traffic jams are directly proportionate to the growing infrastructure of the capital city. Forget about potholes, even flyovers are experiencing traffic jams these days, what with the increased number of vehicular traffic the city is facing. It is wonderful that we have the Metro and probably without it much of the city’s workforce would come to a standstill. However, the road used to be a place that took a person from one destination to another.
These days however it’s more like taking a slow train! In the past whenever I would take a train journey, I would catch up on all the books I was dying to read but could not find time to do so. These days I reserve my reading breaks for the car! I know that as I am stuck in traffic I will easily have a couple of hours to finish off my emails, writing and reading! Sometimes, I catch up with friends and family over chat and WhatsApp Messenger. While snaking laboriously through the traffic, I even pack a sandwich in case I get hungry! A friends visiting from the UK did precisely that since she found herself “crawling slowly in an auto from one destination to another with no time to catch a bite”. I think it’s a good tip to follow especially if you’re on a diet that requires you to eat seven small meals on time!
Resolve
On a more serious note, friends have told me horror stories of how they have been unable to rush the near and dear ones to hospital on time as a result of traffic jams, yes it’s not just a scene from Life in a Metro, it actually happens! Can we resolve this year to have better roads before we launch the next new car, be it a luxury sedan or a small economy car it still has a role to play in slowing down traffic. A particular mango person may have chosen the autorickshaw as his campaign vehicle but his saffron adversary has chosen the airwaves to counter and block the local lad. While in the said traffic jam I am often subject to these radio spots that feature a rather direct bashing of Mr Mango. I had a foggy notion that a radio ad campaign would be more expensive than the rickshaw round-up, but it turns out that it is in fact a cheaper option, given the rising price of CNG. Perhaps a little bit more market research would have come in handy? Hoardings are passé and even more expensive than the radio spot, if some of that money could be "put into the roads" then I would not be stuck in traffic jams listening to these ads?
Here is another campaign that had big billboards and even bigger celebs advertising the "Swachh Bharat campaign". Don’t get me wrong, seeing the Big Bee and the Big P, with a broom in their hands gives me a little chuckle every time! It’s just that my kudawala went on strike recently and I cannot seem to motivate him to pick up the trash! Like a good householder I insist on separating the wet from the dry but what good will it be if the garbage man or woman does not pick up the trash and it continues to rot? Perhaps higher wages will inspire them to take out the trash? Masks, gloves and a nice jacket like the one’s the traffic police have been given may also lend a bit of steam to their garbage gathering?
Lament
Many green dustbins have appeared around my colony. A wonderful sentiment, except they remind me of my days as a basketball champ. I can slam-dunk it in and expect it to come out on the other side as well! I think we forgot to insist not just the token but an actual functioning bin that can be used and does not become part of urban décor! Scrimping that much on the quality of the bins only means the bottoms come off as easily as a babu being bribed.
My final lament is these days I have seriously thought of investing in one of those trendy designer oxygen masks that is popular in other parts of Asia. I am a little fashion conscious and decidedly do not want to end up looking like Hannibal Lecter or Darth Vader, though I may start sounding like him when I breathe if things continue this way.
Violations
I say this because the city‘s air is really too poisonous to breathe in directly. Given the latest stats that put the capital’s PM10 averaged 249, making it the most polluted city in India. Again a simple solution to bring down the pollution caused by vehicular traffic is to increase infrastructure and the second solution is to just hop on the Metro. I will try this myself one of these days.
Meanwhile if any of you reading this column would like to report some gross violations of the environment, call these helplines managed by the state-run Delhi Pollution Control Committee (Tel: 011-23865117) or the Central Pollution Control Board (Tel: 011-22307233). These complaints can be tracked under the Right to Information Act. Last but not the least, a Happy New Year to all my readers; let us hope that in 2015 I can tick some of these resolutions off my life.