Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Right of Way, What is that?

Anyone who drives in Hyderabad surely must have had people honking at them as soon as the signal turns Green immaterial of the fact that there are about 10 vehicles between you and the signals. Well it seems the city so famous for its laid back attitude refuses to be laid back when it comes to driving. Patience is a virtue, goes the adage. This is one virtue that is completely missing in the drivers of this magnificent city of mine. The thing that citizens here refuse to accept is that if most of us follow the rules, the traffic will move much faster.

"Right of Way" is another concept completely alien to us (I say us because we tend to get sucked in by the other drivers into aping their driving). People are always under the impression that it is their road to use at all times, they seem have the right to use it before the other driver. Even though they might be on the wrong side of the road, it is still their proprietary. It is always a case who blinks first. The driving is very hostile in this friendly city of ours. And to top it all not all roads have enough room to manoeuvre. It is not fair to blame the roads of our city, which are pretty good.

The worst offenders are the RTC buses, autos, hire taxis and Government vehicles, not necessarily in that order. The SUVs have only increased the pressure on the road users.

Most people just seem to get an adrenalin rush out of it or do it because for some reason it is okay for them to do it, but not so for others. They seem to enjoy the fact that they got away with something that was against the rules, be it jumping a signal or driving on the wrong side of the road. The most distressing fact is that even the more educated of us seem to follow the same school of thinking. This does not reflect well on either them or our city.

Despite all this chaos on our roads, it is very fortunate and surprising that the number of road accidents is not as high as it would seem plausible. The only way out of this is to educate people and make them realize the merits of following the rules. There have already been calls to improve the roads, install signals etc. All this will come to nothing, if Hyderabadis refuse to follow the law and most importantly learn to be patient.

posted by Sreedhar @ Tuesday, September 27, 2005 0 Comments

Indian Cricket's Soap !

The review committee meets today and hopefully they come up with a more moral and transparent solution to this problem. As it stands now it is very difficult for these two to continue to work together

As Steve Waugh states

The review committee that meets on Tuesday might try to work out a compromise, but I think that would be unrealistic. The spat has been too ugly, too public and too bitter, and therefore one of the two gentlemen at the helm of Indian cricket will have to leave. If the two are made to continue on the basis of an uneasy truce, they will take Indian cricket further down the road to disaster since the members of the team will be forced to side with either one or the other. In fact, signs of this polarisation are already emerging.

With the two men put in charge to lead the team to the next World Cup in such a situation, it makes it very difficult for the team to stay united. No amount of patching up is possible now. One of the two have to go, for the betterment of Indian Cricket. For now, Ganguly seems more closer to the door than Greg.

By the end of the day, it will be hopefully clear as to where the BCCI stands. For the sake of Indian Cricket and Cricket, in general, BCCI has to make the right decisions. While Indian cricket is going through this turmoil, one of our very own has added fuel to the fire with his comments. The best thing for the "ace" spinner to do, would have been to "shut up". Anyway, the horse has already bolted now.

The majority of the public siding with Chappell might seem to be a mirage, as none of the people who sided with Greg in these opinuion polls will matter.

Chappell has probably played all his aces too soon in this game. Or has he?

posted by Sreedhar @ Tuesday, September 27, 2005 0 Comments

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Why all the clamor about PDA ?

Let's talk a little about PDA (Public Display of Affection) ... For long I have been wondering why it is okay to kiss a baby in public but not your partner. Is this some sort of discrimination?

Maybe that was a little harsh. Nonetheless, it is really ludicrous to attempt to police people from displaying their affection in public. This is a form of prohibition, which will fail, like all the other prohibitions failed.

This reeks of double standards, if people of the same sex can hug in public, why is it so blasphemous for two people of the opposite sex in love (At least in most cases) to hug. An affectionate hug is the same whether it is in the confines of your home or in the mall.

So why try to impose on others what is basically a flawed concept. On the same lines, if it is okay to display one emotion why is it NOT okay to display another? For example; if one can display reverence in public then why can it be sacrilegious to show affection. On the flip side, one has to draw a line as to how far one can go with this display. There definitely cannot be any groping or anything titillating. Again, it is easy to titillate a few, while for a few others it is a more strenuous exercise.

Most of us are pretty much okay with PDA as long it does not suffocate others. Though I have to confess being left a little discomfited by a few acquaintances with their "holding hands" et al on a couple of occasions.

posted by Sreedhar @ Sunday, September 18, 2005 0 Comments