Mercury Rising!

Radio Mirchi playing in the car blares out aloud – Semma Hot Machi!! Yes, Chennai has become unbearably hot. I do not like it. Along with the weather, people’s temper's also shot up. It is a sheer torture to drive to office and back everyday. Civic sense is simply non-existent. Cops are eunuchs, lorry drivers are drunk, auto fellows are rowdies and cyclists have the mistaken belief that their grandpop left them the city in his will. And of course, to top it all, you will find some road between potholes and puddles. Such huge cracks that you wonder whether you slept through an enormous earthquake! It as much as drizzles and the traffic is a huge mess. Muck splashed on all vehicles, rubble of under-construction flyovers occupying half the roads, cows and goats occupying the remaining half! God, I mean what has this city come to? It is not a rare sight to see a cop lazing away at a tea kadai or Beeda kadai while a plush car owner is being hurled abuses at or even manhandled by a van or auto driver, surprisingly for no fault of his! Here people simply assume that at every blind turn there definitely won’t be any forthcoming vehicle, a horn is unheard of and an indicator! Oh forget about it! I am a pretty calm and patient person by nature. But now there is almost a blinding fury every time I am put through the agony of driving with a huge bus dangerously chasing me, an obstinate auto guy hell bent on overtaking me from the left and a cyclist royally cutting across diagonally without so much as a hand signal! Another juvenile thing is for people to gape at a girl behind the steering wheel. It is just a marvel for some of them. They will cat call, follow you, honk or simply scare you while driving! I mean, For Chris’ Sake, grow up! This city’s roads and citizens both need a lot of repair. I was shocked to learn that in Chennai alone there are 600 accidents per year on road. Appalling! Why don’t people realize the value of life! An adventure is only foolish guts not gone wrong, luckily. But luck does not favor a person eternally, especially on Chennai roads.