Crossroads.. literally

I do not know what the traffic rules have to say on this, but seriously, something ought to be done on the way people cross the roads!

I do not understand why some HAVE to cross them diagonally! Doesn't that take more time than usual? Fine! 2 seconds more! But hell yeah! If I keep on counting the 2 2 seconds that I keep on losing on a 10km drive, it well amounts to more than 10 minutes and that’s "extremely late" in Mumbai standards! Now it is a different case for a person like me who doesn’t really care if he is late for work or lecture, but what if I get late for a date! Firstly I get to go out on one after billion centuries and over and above that being late is as horrible a crime committed as not being there AT ALL!

I normally do not blame the kids who just keep running across the streets, little do they ever feel the danger, but their caretakers are the stupidest people existing on this planet in my opinion! Once in my bicycle days, I crashed upon a lady who was walking with her kid who was getting, "Do you not know how to walk on the roads? Always tread on the footpath that is to your left and never on the main road!" from her. These words of wisdom were exchanged right in between the divider and the footpath (which means on the main road)!

Then came my crazy scooter days! Parents were against handing me the keys to a bike, so I was forced to travel on a scooter. (Now trust me parents, scooters with automated gears are worse to control than bikes as the only means of controlling these beasts is the brakes, whereas bikes have gears!! But if only people would believe me!) Ah well! So while I was nicely speeding on an apparent empty street at 80kmph, an auto rickshaw just stops and a lady hops down the same. Now my calculations said that by the time I would cross the auto rickshaw, this lady would be still paying the driver, and by the time she would get to the act of crossing, I would have sailed home. But things HAD to go wrong! Utterly wrong! This female, as soon as she jumped from the 3-wheeler, headed straight for the speeding bus that was on the other side of the road! Now here is what happened! Me just sees the rickshaw and since me was on a bridge, I just could see the hind part of the rickshaw, the lady and her movements stayed hidden! So I saw the lady only when I hit her and her open mouth was all the last sight I recall! Then I too hit desperate brakes and my scooter went crazy! The lady was down and out! Seeing no traffic police around, I quickly thanked God, picked up scooter and parked it by the side. Then reached for the "fallen" woman and helped her to her feet. Seeing me doing this, a crowd of people came from no where and asked me, "Is she your mother?" "Did she fall off the scooter?" "Isko chakkar aaya kya? Is she unwell?" I quickly understood why they were asking me these questions. Had I caused the accident, then I wouldn't have been helping her there. Now I did not understand whether this feat of mine was simply stupid or an act of bravado! I still stood there and helped arrange for a chair so that this female would sit! Then got water for her and helped her gain consciousness. Till then, someone had got antiseptic for me and showed me my skin-ripped arm. Ignoring that I stood there to see if that female needed help! "You bastard! You speed demons should be hung to death! I was supposed to go to Kolhapur, my bus starts in 30 minutes, and I should have caught that bus. But you just banged into me. You bastard!" A voice from the crowd roared, "Is he not your son?" "No you idiot! He crashed into me!" And then the antiseptic lady held my collar. Thank God it wasn't a strong hold, I just let it go and my mind quickly worked up a plan! I had to get out of here before cops come and so, "You want me to drop you home? Or shall I stop an auto rickshaw? Where do you stay?" was asked in the "calmest" manner possible! Without waiting for her answer I stopped an auto and told her to rush into it as people had already written down my scooter's license number and one had left to fetch a cop. Me rushed her in the auto and told everyone I will go with her, but as soon as I pushed her in, I told the driver to speed off and me sped towards my scooter, which after a couple of hiccups, roared to life and in time sped from the spot as a couple of musclemen just reached me! That was a close call! But I still fail to understand whose fault it was anyway!

Then I once crashed upon a traffic policeman too. He was crossing the road while cleaning his shoes and me went bang! Fortunately I was on bicycle and all he could do was swear at me! Haha.. fuck ya!

Then one of my school pals had a horrible experience as he was beaten up till he paid Rs.250 to this lady against whom he had crashed and who lay on the road unmoved till he approached her! The moment he got off his bicycle, she started screaming and before he knew it, he was surrounded by 5 people who started hitting him and asked for money! He somehow reached his cycle and started for home! His bad luck! Nobody home and he stayed on the ground floor. Also he being on cycle, it wasn't too difficult for these goons to follow him. So finally he gave them the sum and they let him off! Phew! The next day he came with a fractured arm and black eye and he was the "guy who hit on an old lady" for the next 2 years!

So yeah! Coming back to the point! Car drivers should make rules for everyone as to how one should cross the roads, be it pedestrians, cyclists, auto rickshaw drivers or bikers because they suffer the MOST! Pedestrians have a problem with everyone - from people on a single wheel to people on multiple wheels! Cyclists have a problem with pedestrians alone! Bikers have a problem with pedestrians and cyclists! Auto rickshaws do NOT have a problem AT ALL. They will just crash and dash! Poor 4-wheel drivers suffer tremendously! Hence, guys! Wake up and define road-crossing rules! It's high time! :S