Humanity goes down the drain in Bangalore

Some days back (on Sept 26, 2012) Niveditha attige put up a status on Facebook which read;

“Traffic from all 3 sides stood still at a junction...though one of them had a green signal....to allow the AMBULANCE to pass through from the 4th side...!!! Proud of all Bangaloreans who were in JP Nagar RV junction today morning at 10.30!! It may be a rare sight in Bangalore....but is it so difficult to make this common sight????”

Made me happy as a Bangalorean, but pleasantly surprised me too. This kind of discipline is something I have not seen in Bangalore in the recent times. I see chaos, indiscipline, impatience and yes, arrogance in drivers and riders alike. The situation described above made me think for a while that maybe a few instances like these might obligate the drivers/ riders to behave better. But, I was wrong in expecting that. One sunny day does not make a summer, one good incident does not really mean we know how to behave while driving.

What happened on 23rd October’s evening jolted me back to reality and made me realize the hopelessness around while showing me the city’s arrogance at its best.

Location: Road in front of Accenture Consulting Services office near Dairy Circle, Kormangala.

Time: Around 6.40 pm

Scene: A well decorated ambulance (on account of Ayuda Puja) races into the usual traffic on the location. I was the one closest to the ambulance. The driver politely asks me to move ahead and help and clear traffic since it is an emergency case. I make my way around cars and tempo’s alike requesting them to move since an Ambulance is stuck behind us. I come up near a Rasam orange Swift and request the driver to move as an Ambulance wants to make its way. The paan chewing dude, arrogantly looks at me, sizes me up with his eyes and then blurts out, “Yaake? Nimoru yaarana idaara adaralli?”  (Why? Is some one from your family being ferried in that ambulance?)

Blood rushed to my head and I realized it. I controlled my longing to pull the guy out of his vehicle and bash him up bloodying his white shirt, but I had to make way for an ambulance.

Anger in me made me speak, “Yaake na? Yake nim maneyoru yaarana sai tidrunu heege matadtira?”   

(Why? If some one in your family was dying in an ambulance, would talk in a similar way)

In the fit of rage I flew into when dealing with the guy, I forgot to make a note of his vehicle number. 

Thankfully the signal turned green and everyone finally made way for the Ambulance to move. 

I rode back home pondering, is this acceptable social behavior? Have the people turned so heartless that they don’t understand the importance of a situation? What has this city come to? Otherwise, we do not follow any traffic rules in this city, but you want to do that when an ambulance is screeching around to reach its destination to save a life?

This was definitely one of those occasions when I was ashamed to call myself a Bangalorean.