Issue June 1 - 14

Give us today some direction and discipline on city roads

I have always wondered why in all their infinite wisdom, the traffic police put off the signals at 10. It is a good way to save energy, I agree. And works very well in cities where those who zoom about through the day in a variety of vehicles fold themselves into their cosy homes for the night.

But Mumbai is different. The moment the Cinderella syndrome hits the traffic lights at 10, all hell seems to step in and take over. The fact is, the city never sleeps. Office goers rule the roads by day; trucks, party types, and late home birds take them over by night. And the moment the eye of authority sleeps, and the police go off duty, it is each man, each vehicle to its own — and no one can move.

Check out any crossroads that connects two main arteries in any suburb of the city — and chances are there is traffic backed up as far as the eye can see. Buses forming a nose-to-tail line, full of sleepy, tired passengers, trucks that spew carbon dioxide (despite the High Court ruling), cars that try to squeeze through, these are part of the late-night road scene. Add to it the ubiquitous three wheelers, the daredevil two-wheeler riders who ride over rubble, pavement and whatever else with aplomb — and that’s as perfect a picture of mayhem as any one can paint.

Besides this, is the danger of cars zooming from side lanes, depending on other motorists to watch out for them — and innumerable other risk filled situations. Countless lives have been lost in Mumbai city at night — maybe it’s time the powers that be woke up and realised that the city needs tending round the clock, and discipline on the roads is an imaginary beast.

* * *

As a child, I wondered what my mother meant when she said my sister and I would always be there for each other. My sister was always squealing on me, I was eternally playing nasty practical jokes on her — I wondered if we would care to even look at each other once we had no reason to live under the same roof.

Today, I am wiser. A continent separates us, yet the bond holds true and despite many differences in points of view, we respect each other, and will respond in moments of need.

I see it elsewhere around me. Sibling rivalry ends at school level. I was talking to my friend S the other day. S holds a high profile job in a multinational cosmetics firm. Her sister V is a high-flying events management person. And I was touched when S told me that while she planned a visit to France, she was trying to make time to meet her sister, who was in another city in France, coincidentally, at the same time.

"We always try to meet when we travel,” she said. I thought it very sweet considering they live in the same house. To make time to have fun together is a true measure of friendship.

I’ve seen other siblings who work together, sharing their skills and using their contrasting views and personalities to be perfect foils to each other — Mona and Pali is one pair that comes to mind. There are countless others.

It makes me think that women are women’s best friends — and despite what TV soaps may say, can work to one another’s advantage. The chemistry clicks, especially today, whether it is between real sisters or women who work and think so closely, they could well be related.

The Editor