An Unnecessary Traffic Snarl!!!

On my way to work this morning, I was caught in a terrible traffic snarl. One moment, my cab was zipping through the air and I had nicely settled in and started reading my book, with the drone of the now oh-so-familiar radio jockey in the background; the next minute, the cab that daily takes me to my workplace and then back home in the evenings, had come to a complete standstill. I read on, thinking that we would start moving again in a couple of minutes. Unfortunately, even after I'd turned over more than a few pages, we were still rooted to the same mundane spot on the road, and the loud decibels of the radio, now that it was not muffled by the sounds of the passing traffic and the cab itself, finally rendered it impossible for me to read. All of us trapped inside the cab started giving each other quizzical glances, as also raising questioning eyebrows. We hadn't been caught in such a standstill of traffic after that unfortunate accident on Airport Road, many weeks back. The driver of the cab couldn't enlighten us either. He did get out of the vehicle and try finding out the reason for the holdup, but, the others who had been stranded also had no clue whatsoever. By craning our necks out the front window of the cab, we could see a long line of traffic, right till the end of our line of vision!

Some vehicles started taking U-turns at the first possible juncture, heading back the way they'd come. The driver of our cab thought it ill advised to do the same, fearing that we'd be faced with an even more ferocious traffic jam if we ventured onto another road! So, we stayed put, and thankfully so, as in a few more agonizing minutes of doing nothing but twiddling our thumbs, the line in front of us started inching slowly forward. We were soon informed the reason for the mess. Apparently, there is an auto rickshaw strike in the city today. On hearing this piece of news, I was wondering to myself why on earth there was a traffic jam then!?! Wouldn't lesser vehicles on the road mean less traffic?!? In normal situations, yes, that's what can be deduced! However, we further learnt that some of the very same auto rickshaw drivers who were on strike, had turned crazily violent and disruptive, and had deflated the tyres of some of the other vehicles on the road!!! Those vehicles, unable to ply, and abandoned on the middle of the road in some cases, were the beginning of the traffic holdup!

I wonder why people resort to such tactics!?! Even granting the fact that they might have had what may be to them, valid reasons, for calling a strike and disrupting normal life, how does one explain these absurdly unnecessary and violent acts of deflating the tyres of other vehicles?!? It's bad enough that the arguably most used mode of transport in the city is on strike for an entire day, leaving many to struggle to reach the places they have to go to! To top it, such acts of violence certainly leave a lingering distaste in the mouth!!! If one really has to be on strike, can't it at least be one that does not cause even further damage than the strike, in itself, is liable to cause!?! Like one of my friends ironically remarked, maybe they were distraught with the strike proceeding so calmly and wanted to make their presence (absence?) felt!!!

As if all that chaos wasn't enough, the driver of our cab also seemed to turn crazy once the traffic started flowing freely again! He zoomed forward on breakneck speed, leaving all the lesser mortals far behind in the race against time! Not to mention the state of us lesser mortals inside the cab! We were left to brace ourselves every time he hit the brake and the tyres screeched to a halt! In fact, my friend's bag slipped right out of her hold and fell forward! A ride in the death cab, if there ever was one!!! Maybe, he preferred broken bones to a flat tyre!!!