My experience in traffic

I was coming home from my hostel when I got stuck in a horrendous traffic jam! Well, one might feel that traffic jams are an integral part of life in Mumbai. But interestingly, the traffic jam was not due to the traffic but due to a traffic police officer. That's right, the person responsible for managing traffic was causing a great deal of agony to many on the road. For one, he refused to let us pass, despite there being a green signal at his own whims. He did this not once, not twice, but five times- five full times. Then he finally decided to show some mercy and let us go. In addition to this arbitrary behavior, he was extremely mean to other vehicle drivers, actually, mean is an understatement for his behavior. He made some drivers go straight despite them wanting to take a right just because they attempted to overtake another vehicle, and was abusing people for no apparent reason.It sure frustrated me and made me think.

This is the state of our system. Anyone and everyone with even an iota of power comes up with ways and means to make other's lives miserable. This is more commonly observed at the bottom of the pyramid or at the middle level- because that is where we commoners interact with the system. Complete misuse of authority! I want someone to listen, I want to complain, but I don't know where to go.

Comments

  1. Vivek GahatyariJanuary 24, 2011 at 12:17 AM

    http://www.trafficpolicemumbai.org/Complaintform.htm

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rachana GadekarJanuary 24, 2011 at 12:21 AM

    @Vivek: Thanks!! onto it

    ReplyDelete
  3. RaunakJanuary 24, 2011 at 1:52 PM

    I am waiting for the day when India doesn't have a traffic havaldar for controlling traffic... ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownJanuary 24, 2011 at 9:34 PM

    I completely agree to 'Anyone and everyone with even an iota of power comes up with ways and means to make other's lives miserable.' But at the same time I am thinking don't we in our normal lives misuse whatever little power we have. This doesn't mean I support what that traffic police officer was doing or the corrupt system we are in..... but this guy represents one of us!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rachana GadekarJanuary 24, 2011 at 11:03 PM

    @Bunty: This is NOT the U.S. Plus it is an important avenue of employment and considering the inefficiencies of the traffic system that does not take real time info into account, we need these havaldars

    @Nitika- yeah..not everyone can handle power.its the strongest intoxicant..people often tend to forget the responsibility that comes with the power they wield

    ReplyDelete

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