Cows & Convertibles – Regulate India's Roads, not its Economy

I have been wanting to do a post about on further deregulating the Indian economy for some time now, but have just not been able to gather the enthusiasm… But after being stuck in the heavy traffic, moving barely 4 kms in over 40 minutes and with another 20 kms to go, I pulled out my laptop and started typing.

I saw beggars knocking at cars' windows, and children trying to sell flowers. A plebeian man was urinating in a dark corner where the streetlight wasn’t working. Another old man flicked a cigarette butt out of his car’s window in the direction of what was a street tree, but had become a garbage dumpsite thanks to relentless littering by vendors and hawkers, who were selling assortments ranging from tea, golgappas, kebabs, to plastic toys and stationary. As we moved a few more meters before stopping again at the traffic lights, a beggar with a deformed face knocked at my window, and moved on to the car next to me when I told him I had no change for him. Just then, my driver pointed towards an accident site, which was probably the cause of the traffic being so congested. A minibus (capacity: 24 seated + 15 standing) had rammed into a bike and a taxi. There was a small pool of blood thereabouts, but I guess the paramedics had already taken the victims to the hospital since no victims were in sight. We drove on.

Over the next few kilometers, I lost count of the number of construction sites. This sight of unfinished buildings, numerous cranes, massive stacks of bricks, piles of sand, and hundreds of migrant laborers rushing to complete their tasks, was gratifying in a strange way. The notion of India Under Construction was a fascinating one. However, just then I snapped back to reality as the driver slammed the brakes suddenly – an bunch of old drudges, carrying what looked like sacks of cement, were running across the street, totally oblivious to any sense of traffic and road-safety behavior. “You moron! Are you blind?” screamed my driver, and then turned to me, “Do you get to see such things in other countries?” I just smiled, but kept quiet.

Throughout the journey, I had noticed that the sidewalks were being used for everything except walking, forcing the pedestrians to walk on the streets, which in turn forced the cars to slow down and be careful not just about other cars, and traffic lights, but also pedestrians. Adding to their woes, the potholes were so aplenty that it navigating though them felt like a videogame challenge.

By the time we reached the airport, I was already worn out, and I wasn’t even the one driving. But I had realized one thing – what gives India such a poor image. It’s not the inept social structures, institutions or dirty politics as laymen usually jibe – politics, everywhere, is dirty by its very nature; and our democratic social structures and institutions are among the world’s finest. It’s us, the people! We lack civil sense, and are always looking to cut corners. We cross the street wherever we find convenient (instead of on a zebra crossing), and drive through a red traffic light (with no regard for the law). We, the citizens of this country, have accepted the red tape as standard practice; to litter or urinate on the streets as a norm. We have become impatient to wait for the traffic lights to turn green, or to walk a few extra paces till we reach the crossing. We cheat on our taxes, and bribe guiltlessly to cut corners, and often seek a bribe to do our jobs too. And yet we seek more and more freebies. We nag about working overtime, but we always seek a raise. And worse of all, we feel proud of it all. If someone points any of this out, or publically mocks us (BBC’s Top Gear being the most recent case in point), we start condemning them and demand immediate apologies without thinking twice that perhaps our behavior has genuinely given our nation and its people a despicable image.

Yes, the government, or the local municipalities rather, should look at this stalemate on our roads (both, road conditions as well as civil sense among the masses) as a serious predicament. As disposable incomes continue rising, the rising number of cars (more affordable now) is only going to worsen the situation. Are our roads ready to accommodate all those new cars? Some among us have managed to afford Ferraris or Bentleys, but do we have the roads for them? Could you imagine an IT entrepreneur in his Ferrari in Bangalore, trying to navigate though potholes, or a banker from Mumbai trying to shoo away beggars from his Bentley? Could you imagine an Industrialist from Kolkata trying to navigate through a swarm of pedestrians on the streets while cheeky bikers are riding past on the sidewalks? Or imagine a political lobbyist from Delhi waiting for the cows to give way to his newest BMW. These images are not just figments of my imagination, but true incidences.

Yes, there are new highways, new roads, but the same old 3^rd world mindset prevails. Even Bollywood celebrity Mr. Amir Khan has been campaigning (on TV) about civil sense – I wonder if his efforts have been fruitful. I’m no expert on urban planning, so I won’t pretend to sound like one, nor make any airy suggestions. However, having lived overseas for a decade, and having traveled a fair bit (3 continents covered so far), I’ve witnessed better civil sense in just about every country I’ve been to when compared to India. So please allow me to share a tiny wishlist if I may: I would like to see a cleaner city (more dustbins please). When driving, I’d like to see less chaos and some orderly traffic flow (and pedestrians using the sidewalk please).I do not want to see men urinating on the streets (public toilets please). Instead of hijacking every street corner possible, I want to see hawkers and vendors in an organized market-like setup (municipalities could perhaps consider Marrakesh’s food-stalls in Djemaa el-Fnaa, or the night markets which are already popular all across Asia as models to adopt). Readers who’ve never been to India might find these as hilarious 3^rd world problems, and it is just that. But, it’s torturous enough to make me write about it.

As for regulation in the economy, lets save it for some other time, shall we? Its 2012, and while people are talking about what they want from this year, this is what I want from 2012, or 2013, or even 2020 – or any year within my lifetime for that matter.