From Jaywalking to Jai Walking

I love America for a number of reasons. One of the most important reasons is that pedestrians are given a lot of importance. Cars stop for them probably because they feel sorry they are on foot or because of stringent pedestrian-friendly traffic laws. But not so in Miami . That’s what I learnt from my recent visit. Welcome to the American city with the Indian kind of traffic sense. If you visited Miami with the idea that people were going to yield to you in crosswalks like the rest of American cities… you gotta think again. If pedestrians don’t get out of the way of drivers in Miami, they deserve what they get, which is, I guess, getting killed. They should actually put that as an advisory note for international tourists. For Indians they could actually write ‘Feel at home in Miami’.

Traveling on Indian Roads by foot is an humbling experience by itself which sometimes may be hilarious or sometimes exhilarating but always dangerous. Urban Indians have long acquired the skills of crossing a busy four lane traffic signal which has absolutely no ‘green’ signal for pedestrians. We have figured out which is the best time to make a kill and when to lie low. It is an art by itself. We know the maxim followed by all wheeled vehicles in India - Thou shall not slow or brake till you reach your destination' which can be read as ‘Do not falter or fail till you reach your goal’

We, the road travellers also follow a maxim – Live and let live. Live to see another day, without getting knocked down by trucks, buses, government vehicles and the occasional BMWs and Audis driven by drunken children of politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and those with loads of ‘black’ money, which incidentally is all of the above. And letting live, by walking alongside cows, buffalos, bicycles, handcarts and the omnipresent Peedestrians ( Peeing Pedestrians... Ooooh Boy, I love this term I coined) 

For the new entrants to city life, the Road traffic Authorities should dole out some short courses for road travellers on ‘How to cross Indian roads?.. or  how to catch a bus in India .. and if you do catch a bus, how to hang on outside the bus without falling?

While on this topic, hope you guys know what Jaywalking means. It is a term commonly used in North America to refer to reckless pedestrian crossing the road causing disturbance to the traffic. By that definition, all our pedestrians would be considered as Jaywalkers. At least they are walking !!!  Signing off with this quote by Lewis Mumford, an American historian known for his study of cities and urban architecture,

"Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel 

and need no special parking facilities –