Dare it when it's SLOW

Last week I was at my home town, Patna. This time it was not a vacation... this time the matters were real serious, this time it was my Parents' health. Well with God's grace and with the good wishes of well wishers, the situation, if not fine, then it's better than a couple of weeks before.

So, in this mayhem, it was a lot of biking on my Dad's Hero Honda Sleek. I tell you people, Patna is changing..... and it's changing big time. I'm not sure of the future, but the State Government has really engaged the top gear for development of the State. There are now fly-overs every where in down-town Kankarbagh!! Really!! :)

But again, development is only infrastructural. The mindset of the common man over there still needs the tide of change and development. In a traffic jam I can see a couple of college student taunting a person of their father's age in slang.... doctors just denying to see a traumatized patient just because it's a Sunday and it's his day to "Rest".... and many other things.... and really, this is a discussion which would take ages to settle down and "Throttle" is not a particular forum for this discussion.

What really amazed me was.... the driving tactics employed over here. It's like, if you need to cross the road, you will cross the road no matter what is coming from the other side.... you will not give a damn to the traffic.... you will just look straight and start walking or riding your bike or driving you car (be it a Maruti 800 or the oblivion obese architecture Tata Sumo). And you would not cross the road in a hurry!! You would take your time, as if there is no one else on the road. Your fellow Road Sharers' frustration doesn't bother you..... NOT A SINGLE BIT!! But in all this, what's really amazing is..... people have kinda accepted such kinda traffic sense and people actually don't get frustrated by this..... because everybody is moving in the same fashion in the traffic.

People have given the term Maneuvering a new limit, which is hard to breach. It's a world where the average speed mostly stays between 25kmph-30kmph..... you should be happy if you are able to reach 40kmph!! And if somehow you are able to reach 60kmph... boy it's time to rock-n-roll coz you are just blasting off the Patna streets. Cars and bikes crossing each other within millimeters..... a Tata Sumo, making a turn through a 4 feet wide turn opening into 5-6 feet wide road with incoming traffic. Really it's maneuvering reloaded!!

But again, in all this.... what heart warming to see is.... despite of the narrow and bumpy roads, people to go after their dream vehicles.... you can see Hero Honda CD 100 SL to an occasional Hero Honda Karizma or a Bajaj Pulsar 220 or even a Yamaha R15!! You can see Maruti 800 to an occasional Mercedes S class, they are all here.... and all are moving in the same fashion .... Daring for the tightest maneuvers in the slowest but yet moving speeds ;)