Our Streets are unsafe, but can we avoid using them?
Our streets are unsafe for all, especially pedestrians. If
you are a senior citizen you are all the more vulnerable. I include roads and highways when I say
streets. The causes or conditions leading to rendering roads unsafe include our
selves (human beings), animals and nature itself.
It is becoming extremely difficult to cross even inner
streets of a residential area. It is not
just the irritating factor of heavy traffic making you wait for the traffic to
subside but also irresponsible vehicle drivers. The other day I was crossing
the road when traffic cleared but a bike fellow came in wrong direction and hit
me. Maintenance People cut electric or
telephone poles and leave metal stub projections on the ground, which are
dangerous for walkers. They trip and fall and break their hips. Residents allow
thorny vegetation – bougainvillea for instance – to grow and obstruct walkers right
at their eye level.
During
rainy season, water flows like river on the streets. You don’t know if you will
reach home safe or disappear in a watery grave in uncovered drainage manhole.
During Shankranti you may get your throat or leg cut by manja thread. Or during
Deepavali you may get hurt by crackers fired without care or caution. But these
are seasonal for a day or two. Avoiding stepping on dogs’ shit is a tricky task
during morning walk. Dogs prefer to poop in all parts of the street not just
the pedestrian pathways. Dog owners have no responsibility or control over
their pets. Mad street dogs may bite you too, choosing which part to bite on
their own. Streets are dark during night due to non-working street lights and
even a torch would not help as roads are uneven filled with debris and other obstructions.
The only way you can avoid trouble to yourself, as Sadhguru
Jaggi Vasudev says in a different context: Be hundred percent aware of the
present. This applies even when you are a street walker.
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