Old truth from a new source

Grocery shopping to me is a weekend ritual. A ritual I have been following religiously for the last six years. To make things easier for myself I have a taxi driver I know who always waits outside the supermarket I frequent. He has been giving me taxi rides back to my apartment for almost four years now. It has never occurred to either of us that we should find out each other’s names yet. Nonetheless we still engage in everything from deep philosophical conversations to light hearted happenings about the life around us. We discuss everything from politics to traffic situations to weather to lifestyles. He even manages to ask me personal questions like ‘How come you bought a lot this week? Is a girl coming over?’ to which I sheepishly smile back with a standard response ‘Yes’ fully aware of facts that might be a tad askew.

Coming from a city like Bangalore getting exposed to multi-ethnic and multi-layered opinions is not new to me. The problems that plague Bangalore plague most of the developing cosmopolitans around the world. Chaotic traffic scenes, polluted clouds pouring down acid rain and the poor condition of the crumbling infrastructure. All the time I was in Bangalore a couple of months ago I was convinced that the mantra to improving the city’s traffic mayhem was making new and better roads.

Today I dragged myself out of the supermarket with another week’s supply. As always the taxi driver hailed me into his vehicle and we began with our usual chit chat. Within minutes we found ourselves stuck in a hopelessly deadlocked traffic zone. As we sat discussing the situation, I told him about similar conditions from back home and how I believed better roads are the only solution. Being a man who is always up for a healthy debate, he did not seem too convinced. He nodded his head in disapproval and said, ‘If people do not respect the rules of traffic, no amount of advanced roads will ever do any good. I can give you at least five examples of cities I know where vehicular movement is the best in the world not because they have six lanes going together, but because the citizens there are law abiding. Good roads are fine for the vehicles but good principles are what the driver needs. And if the driver does not follow rules then the law should be enforced strictly. No two ways about it. Is this not the case in your city too?’

As his words fell around me like tiny daggers of pure truth, I could not help but feel humbled by this common man with seemingly limited exposure to the outer world but with a lot of sense about the inner self. If people are good citizens the public life irrespective of the location automatically becomes a well planned out haven. Having a good infrastructure helps but the charity called self-discipline definitely starts at the home called ourselves.

My mind shot back to the many architectural initiatives back in Bangalore - multi-lane, flyovers, metro rail et al - that promise a better life ahead for the regular commuter. The real focus seems to be, however, on the commuter's behavior and law enforcement process itself.

As I got off at my apartment I promised myself that I would ask the man his name next week. I just hope I remember to.

--ShaKri