Wednesday, July 25, 2012

The Good Samaritan I Almost Met During Rains

The first raindrops of the season had hit the ground early evening on the 5th of June as I was about to wrap up my work. By the time I got on the bike, it had officially started raining cats and dogs.

On my way home, I cross a very prominent junction, called "University Circle" which witnesses a high traffic density during its peak hours (9-10am and 6-8pm).

What followed was totally unexpected and very inspiring. 

I left office at about 6.30pm that day, when the rains were at its peak. On the way to the University Circle, I was annoyed to see a lot of people driving recklessly especially in this weather. Could I do something to warn them against rash driving? I was worried that they might hurt others too.

As I was approaching the traffic signal, I noticed a thin old guy holding an umbrella, telling something to the passersby. I got curious. He couldn't possibly be a begger or a hawker? Then what was this old guy doing in this difficult weather?

When I passed him closely, I was left awestruck by he was doing: He was waving his hand very animatedly and asking people to drive slowly! It was one of the most inspiring moments for me! I later recollected that I had also seen him sorting out traffic jam a couple of times at University Circle earlier.

And he wasn't even a traffic cop fulfilling his duties. He was just some guy, who was all out there helping others. And without asking anything in return. And I don't even know his name. A guy low in profile but high in deeds! God bless him!

You want to see/ meet him? Just stop by at the University Circle during peak hours, and look out for an old guy who is trying to help sort out some mess

Here are four takeaways from this experience:
1. Avoid driving recklessly - even when its raining. Drive safely. Think about others too.
2. Be good to others. You don't need to promote good work. Just keep doing it. Others will be thankful to you, even if they don't know you.
3. When you notice an area of improvement, take it up yourself - in whatever small way you can.
4. Follow traffic rules. They are meant to safeguard us all.

Ciao! Happy Driving!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Why You Might Get Late To Work On A Rainy Day

It's been a month since the rains have arrived.

I got a little anxious and later curious as to why I was clocking 40 mins to work, than my usual 30 mins. In any non-rainy day, I observed I was reaching within 30 mins, sometimes even 20 mins during peak traffic.

What started as a passing enquiry grew into nagging curiosity. I decided to explore the various causes as to why I was clocking extra 10-15 mins on a typical rainy day. Upon some observation and analysis, I came up with these 4 logical reasons:

Reason 1: In a rainy season, roads are slippery and people are more careful while driving their vehicles. Thus, as more people drive cautiously and therefore slowly, every body gets late to work.

Reason 2: People who earlier took 2-wheelers to work, were now resorting to a 4-wheeler to avoid rains. This increased the vehicle density during the peak traffic hours. More vehicles combined with cautious driving, delayed more people to work.

Reason 3: People with a 2-wheeler but who did not own a car, were resorting to using public transports or taxis during rains. This increased the traffic density and congestion further, delaying people to work.

Reason 4: The start of the rainy reason (July) is also roughly the time when the Schools reopen, and the starting time of a lot of schools is 9-9.30am. This increased number of School buses/ taxis/ vans and also parents who were dropping their children to school, added to the traffic woes and delayed others to work.

These are just some observations. How about finding some real data? Can we conclusively prove that on any rainy day, the time taken to reach your destination is more as compared to any other day?

I can probably find such a data at toll plazas. They keep log of all vehicles transiting. We can find out the number of 2-wheelers, 4-wheelers, taxis and public transport vehicles entering and exiting during peak/ non-peak hours and rainy/ non-rainy season.I'm going to try finding this data on some online sources.

Do you know any sources where such data could be found? What other reasons can you suggest?

For now, I'm just going to start to work a little early so I can reach on time! :)