Red Light Means Stop?
Driving down Bangalore roads in the early hours of the morning is rather interesting. First, the good news: The streets are so empty before 7am that one doesn't have to be on edge, trying to avoid the typical rush-hour villains, chiefly the auto rickshaws and the unending stream of two-wheelers darting in, and out, and around the traffic. Driving to work in the the pre-commute hours is a welcome respite.
But here's the bad news: For some reason that's probably too profound for me to comprehend, the Bangalore drivers consider it their birthright to ignore the red traffic light before 8am. It's either that or they suffer from color blindness that only corrects itself when the roads are swollen with traffic.
No one stops on a red. Why, just this morning I was honked at by a respectable-looking lady in an blue Octavia (a trendy European car). What drew her ire is the fact that I came to a complete halt when the light turned red. She was right behind me and clearly did not expect such unpredictable behavior. I wanted to take a principled stand but she was hitting the horn with such vitriol that I capitulated--and drove through the intersection while the light was still as red as red can be. The conditioned response to a red light, honed over twenty years, had flown out the window just like that!
I was both annoyed and nervous--annoyed because I was being "punished" for doing the right thing, and nervous because I was worried a cop would pull me over. Well, there were no cops in sight. And frankly, I don't think they would have been perturbed by any of this anyway. I'd learned my lesson well: When in Bangalore, do as the Bangaloreans do.
But here's the bad news: For some reason that's probably too profound for me to comprehend, the Bangalore drivers consider it their birthright to ignore the red traffic light before 8am. It's either that or they suffer from color blindness that only corrects itself when the roads are swollen with traffic.
No one stops on a red. Why, just this morning I was honked at by a respectable-looking lady in an blue Octavia (a trendy European car). What drew her ire is the fact that I came to a complete halt when the light turned red. She was right behind me and clearly did not expect such unpredictable behavior. I wanted to take a principled stand but she was hitting the horn with such vitriol that I capitulated--and drove through the intersection while the light was still as red as red can be. The conditioned response to a red light, honed over twenty years, had flown out the window just like that!
I was both annoyed and nervous--annoyed because I was being "punished" for doing the right thing, and nervous because I was worried a cop would pull me over. Well, there were no cops in sight. And frankly, I don't think they would have been perturbed by any of this anyway. I'd learned my lesson well: When in Bangalore, do as the Bangaloreans do.
Comments