Terrorists are not only those who wield dangerous weapons and hold out threats against society; there are terrorists in our own neighbourhood who have the capability to threaten us even without possessing or wielding any weapons.
The guys who park their cars in front of our compounds and gates and vanish for a few hours; the two-wheeler users who bend their vehicles and park blocking a third of the width of a narrow street; the two-wheeler riders who talk busily on their mobile phones while riding and even text with one hand, which is an art by itself; those car drivers who coolly text, chat and talk while driving; the autorickshaw drivers who give two hoots for anyone on the road, driving recklessly with passengers inside their vehicles or drive at 10 km an hour in the middle of the road when it is empty; and auto drivers who never want to take you where you want to go (I wonder how they make their living as they refuse nine out of 10 intending passengers). Wait, there are more of these caricatures around.
In India, footpaths are a big joke and traffic signals are but ludicrous colour signs at busy junctions. Footpaths are pathetically maintained, with stones or pavement blocks dangerously broken. Piles of construction debris lie there for ages (City Corporation, who?). And two-wheelers, cars, vans and so on are parked without any fear or guilt of having broken the rules, causing inconvenience to other road-users. The hapless pedestrian walks on the carriageway while the vehicles ply on the footpath.
Stopping your vehicle at the signal when it is red is a sin on Indian roads; the restless driver behind your vehicle honks relentlessly as if you have committed a crime by waiting for the signal to turn green. They even use expletives while passing you! There are drivers of different types of vehicles who jump signals creating chaos and confusion. Everyone seems to be in a hurry on the road, and I often wonder what the hurry is all about.
Those maniacs
Another set of those terrorists overtake you from the left, suddenly turning at a crossing without any warning or signal as if they have paralysis of the fingers that prevents them from merely pushing the indicator buttons.
The biggest dinosaurs on the road are the buses and trucks, which hardly ever follow any rules. Their way is always the right way.
Most people have developed the habit of building houses without leaving any space for parking their vehicles; they earn rental income from such spaces while their vehicles (and their tenants’) are parked everywhere on the road, disturbing human and vehicle movement.
The next round of terrorism is from taxi drivers who are autorickshaw drivers on four wheels! No traffic sense at all, and driving in the night with glaring high beams as if they are driving in a dark jungle.
Reckless acts
There are several others who take to the streets and hold our lives — as also their own — hostage with their reckless acts. And as common citizens you cannot fight them. There seems to be no fear or accountability because the police are often busy catching two-wheeler riders without helmets and ignoring the bigger and real culprits.
The government ought to instil fear, in a constructive manner, to make people accountable. Those who break the rules should be penalised, as is done in other countries. This is definitely nothing less than terrorism, which should be checked and controlled.
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