The Palaghat highway is quite a distance from my place in Coimbatore, but given that Cbe is 1/4th of Chennai, they would hardly call it a distance. I was in no mood to do the spider man act of hopping more than a couple of buses to reach the destination, but it was a Hobson's choice I had with my parents, not budging to any of my gimmicks to take a pleasure ride.Thankfully, the afternoon was quite cool and windy when we started and that was a welcome sign. It was Catch (the) 22 and
get down at the first pit stop which did not take more than 15 minutes. While we were figuring out our next mode of commute the bright red vehicle zoomed right past us and stopped to a screeching halt. Hopped in to secure ourselves a seat and off we zoomed again touching the Palaghat highway. This one has a customized stopping facility and we were glad to get off right where we wanted.
We had to visit my friend's(Mani's) new house and also wish his father a happy 60th b'day. Having spent some quality time at their house and completing the formalities of munching the sweets and drinking coffee, we started our return journey. The strategy applied was the same. We got hold of the Suryan FM enabled 40 seater and got down at our connecting hub. Another 40 seater honked in and before we could realise, we were at home. My parents were very pleased for not having to part with lot of moolah and I had to accept that it was sure a super-saver. It cost us only Rs 36 for to and fro in the public transport as against Rs 200 to and fro in the famous Indian call-taxi.
PS: My title had an arithmetic error and thankz to Xavier for noticing it. Sometimes things don't add up properly in life do they? I've made the correction anyways!
Thursday, September 16, 2004
The indelible mark of the Indian clan
Scene 1:
I was Sitting in the auto waiting for the 180 seconds signal to turn green. After a while a black sedan pulls beside me. I lean out to take a look and no doubt it was a Sonata ,glimmering in all grandeur. I was starting to admire the beauty of the black stallion (is it worth calling the car so?) when I was taken aback by what happened in the next few seconds. The power window on the navigator's side rolled down to reveal a person well dressed in a perfect business suit.
Splat! Thoo! Thup! was the sound and what an artist was he to have made those markings on the electrical post standing tall and white (now with a red spot in the corner). Immensely satisfied with his act, the person leans back in his seat and the power window goes up again.
Scene 2:
A couple of days later, I was on M.G Road in an auto. The driver would have given the creeps to Schumi exhibiting his perfectly precarious driving skills. As he was maneuvering the 3-wheeler in the busy traffic, he did a twin act of disposing the ammunition from his mouth. It was with enough dexterity that he shot the ammo from his mouth that I could not stop from admiring it. If he was in any spitting competition, he would have won it hands down. The beauty about his spit time act was
that he was careful enough to save his vehicle from any marks.
I can go with more such scenes,but if you want more feast for the eyes, you can see such modern arts in the subways, railway and bus stations, big white walls and just about any other place where one considers is an (in)appropriate place to cleanse his mouth. The "Paan" is a true mark of the common Indian man. Who stops him from spitting it where he likes?, Who warns him, who educates him? Nobody! Maybe it is not part of the civic sense at the first place.
If you are a modern art buff, you don't need M.F.Hussain to have you agape with his
paintings. A bunch of our full time pan chewers (more aptly the spitters) will do a wonderful job for you. From the best city to the worst village in India, these marks are pervasive. I even heard that the New York lanes have exuberant displays of such art.
Do we ever realize that we are not only spoiling the beauty of the city landmarks, but also causing a serious threat to the already threatened health and hygiene conditions in our cities and towns? Only a conscious effort from our side and an ethical and moral responsibility towards our immediate surroundings will force people to refrain from such demeaning acts. I am trying to make noise about it through this media. Who else wants to bark louder?
I was Sitting in the auto waiting for the 180 seconds signal to turn green. After a while a black sedan pulls beside me. I lean out to take a look and no doubt it was a Sonata ,glimmering in all grandeur. I was starting to admire the beauty of the black stallion (is it worth calling the car so?) when I was taken aback by what happened in the next few seconds. The power window on the navigator's side rolled down to reveal a person well dressed in a perfect business suit.
Splat! Thoo! Thup! was the sound and what an artist was he to have made those markings on the electrical post standing tall and white (now with a red spot in the corner). Immensely satisfied with his act, the person leans back in his seat and the power window goes up again.
Scene 2:
A couple of days later, I was on M.G Road in an auto. The driver would have given the creeps to Schumi exhibiting his perfectly precarious driving skills. As he was maneuvering the 3-wheeler in the busy traffic, he did a twin act of disposing the ammunition from his mouth. It was with enough dexterity that he shot the ammo from his mouth that I could not stop from admiring it. If he was in any spitting competition, he would have won it hands down. The beauty about his spit time act was
that he was careful enough to save his vehicle from any marks.
I can go with more such scenes,but if you want more feast for the eyes, you can see such modern arts in the subways, railway and bus stations, big white walls and just about any other place where one considers is an (in)appropriate place to cleanse his mouth. The "Paan" is a true mark of the common Indian man. Who stops him from spitting it where he likes?, Who warns him, who educates him? Nobody! Maybe it is not part of the civic sense at the first place.
If you are a modern art buff, you don't need M.F.Hussain to have you agape with his
paintings. A bunch of our full time pan chewers (more aptly the spitters) will do a wonderful job for you. From the best city to the worst village in India, these marks are pervasive. I even heard that the New York lanes have exuberant displays of such art.
Do we ever realize that we are not only spoiling the beauty of the city landmarks, but also causing a serious threat to the already threatened health and hygiene conditions in our cities and towns? Only a conscious effort from our side and an ethical and moral responsibility towards our immediate surroundings will force people to refrain from such demeaning acts. I am trying to make noise about it through this media. Who else wants to bark louder?
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