Got a dent on my car on Friday

After a long time, finally, my car got a dent. Thanks to the heavy chaotic traffic and careless driving on the ever busy Mohammedwadi road leading to Corinthian clubs from Hadapsar.

I was in a different mood on Friday evening as I was going to Corinthian Clubs to attend a company dinner party. Since, I was driving alone, I offered ride to 4 of my colleagues to the venue. Somehow, we decided to take the Hadapsar, Mohammedwadi route to Corinthian Clubs. This was the first time I was driving on this road. Anyways, we all set out on this route happily. However, immediately after crossing the Hadapsar market, we got stuck in a bumper to bumper traffic. After waiting there for almost 20 mins, finally we got through it and crossed the railway crossing ahead. Immediately after crossing the railway line, we ended up in a minor accident. A scooter (TVS Scooty Pep) with 2 riders was banged into my car by a unknown car driven by a careless lady driver. I do not know what that lady was thinking of while driving. Even though, she knew that there is no way for her to move ahead, she kept on revving here car. Fortunately, nobody was hurt seriously, nor there were any major damages to any of the vehicles involved.

I was also not very keen on finding out what happened to my car, as I knew about the kind of damage that had happened to it immediately after the scooter banged into it.

I would like to request drivers driving on the road to follow certain rules and drive cautiously, especialy on busy roads.

1) Please do not talk on the cell phone while driving. If you have to, please pull over your car to the side and continue with your conversation. If you have to be constantly on the phone, get a good quality hands free device so that your hands are not busy holding your phone.
2) Pay attention to the road. Do not try to overtake the vehicles from the wrong side. You never know when the vehicle in front of you turns left.
3) Respect other drivers, riders and especially the pedestrians on the road. They have equal right to use the road you are driving on.
4) Do not honk un-necessarily. This not only adds to the sound pollution, but is also irritating to the others.

Everybody gets to read all these tips everywhere. But, nobody seems to follow them. Why don't people understand that these tips do not only ease out the traffic, but relieves the individual drivers from the stress they experience while on the road.

The accident that the two scooter riders met the other day could have been fatal. Thanks to the slow moving traffic that the lady in the other car was not able to drive at high speed.

This is humble request to all the Punekar's who love this city to follow traffic rules and be a good citizens. Make this city free from chaotic and unruly traffic.

Pune city in dreams

I remember the day when I received a job offer from a Pune bases company in early 2000. I was so excited about going to Pune especially, when I was born and brought up in a comparatively smaller city named Gwalior in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

I had heard all the good things about this city, its cultural heritage, its people and their so called love with their city. Being close to India's business capital, Mumbai, I thought, that the life in this city will also be hectic and I will have to somehow get adjusted to that life.

Going to Pune for work was like a big leap in my career and hence, I packed by luggage and landed in Pune in the month of March 2000. And here you go, the moment I landed, my impression about Pune was totally changed. Opposite to what I had imagined, I had landed into a city with chaotic and unruly traffic, small narrow roads (they should be actually called lanes), citizens who felt proud in breaking the traffic rules, garbage littered here and there on the roads etc .....

Since, I did not know anything about the geography of the Pune city, I decided to hire a rickshaw and go directly to my cousin's place. The rickshawala, I sould say was very smart and immediately came to the conclusion that I am new to the city and hence, instead of taking me by the shortest route, he took me through all the busy and narrow streets of the city, making more money through the meter. I realized this only when my cousin asked me how much did I pay to the ricksahwwala to reach to her place. I was stunned to know that I as charged double the amount than the actual fare.

Since that day, I have been staying in this city called Pune. I have seen Pune growing from a city to a metropolis in last 10 years only in terms of the haphazard growth, increased population and increaed number of private vehicles on the road. I should say, that the city's infrastructure has collapsed and is not able to sustain this rapid growth.

I am not the only person complaining about these things. There are lot many other people who have to face this reality everyday. The people here feel proud in breaking the traffic rules. Nobody cares about the traffic signals. There is no sense of lane driving in this city. The public transport in this city is pathetic resulting in increasing private vehicle population on the roads.

The pedestrains are the worst affected as the local authorities seem to have a thinking that nobody in Pune city should walk. Everybody should drive his/her own vehicle.

I will try to update this post with my day to day encounter and adventures with the Pune city's traffic as I travel to my office, crossing almost entire city.

Living in Pune City

More to come on this topic...