[I wrote this when I was going insane with the traffic scene in Chennai. How much ever I love the city there are certain things that are far from amusing]
Auto’s bursting with children bundled one on top of the other, limbs precariously sticking out. They balanced left and right shifting their weights as the auto swerved dangerously taking a one way street a short route to school ( save time n save petrol) the harried auto driver labored on with his burden like a pregnant woman in the midst of shrill screams and gasps that escape from young mouths every time he avoids a collision.
The children wave at their friend traveling on a scooter. The good old family transport carry father, mother, brother sister and baby. Only daddy gets to wear the helmet, the children scowl. The baby chuckles and lunges in the direction of a tricycle with a massive load of colorful plastic pots. They are heaped fifteen feet high (talk about a towering offence)
I sigh and honk cajoling the other vehicle in front to move on. Irritable and already tired at the start of the day the traffic continues to clog my senses.
The creaking buses! The mobile leaning towers of India swollen with the crowd and ready to topple over. Mammoths so menacing they block the road and refuse to move forward.
The cyclists darting in and out squeezing through every available space the super men of the Indian roads who manage to dodge and bound over every rut and obstacle.
Tears down my eyes as the noise and the smoke slowly choke me. The car behind honking the most horrendous ear splitting horn, loud enough to raise the dead. I glare at the motorist who dares to overtake me. The start of a new day.
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