When the Fence Eats the Crop

My good old friend and classmate had just come to Bangalore on a vacation from the US, which he has made his adopted home.Being old time Bangloreans, our conversation wound around old times and finally on to traffic in Bangalore. As we were discussing the chaos or may I call it madness that we have which we euphemize as ‘Traffic’ in Bangalore, we heard a huge ear splitting roar of a 2-wheeler , driven by, maybe, some kid , whose dad was rich and wanted his progeny to be noticed !!

As I was complaining about the Din, my friend looked puzzled and told me that I should be complaining to cops to solve the problem. Having spent over 20years in the US, my friend seemed to have forgotten the way police in India in general and Police in Bangalore, in particular, operate. He drawled on in his American Accent, as to how the ‘Cops’ way back in the US were the peace makers and the trust the common Man had in him, I thought it not right to argue and more than that my Indian Pride did not let me update the ground reality to my friend , now an American.

After dinner and after seeing my friend off, my mind lingered on what my adorable friend had mentioned, as an Indian and as a Bangalorean, touch wood, I have had the misfortune of going to a police station only half a dozen times in my entire life, and this was to report on Loss of Pager, Loss of Mobile, verification for passport and on two occasions to register a complaint of accident where the offending vehicle just drove away with impunity!!

Was a Cop looked at as a friend by a lawful citizen in this city?? I do not know what experience others may have, but most people that I have spoken to including me , see cops as opportunists who will harass you in the name of law, and make a quick buck. These guys are highly avoidable, and most try and avoid these specimen!!

One could reach for a compromise in the traffic related skirmish rather than go register a complaint because both the parties know it is futile. The influential offender will dare the other to register the complaint while the lesser law abiding mortals will try and settle the case by paying the damage money on site. Going to the cops would mean, a painful process and where you would land up spending double that stuff. I’m fascinated when almost every time a new police chief comes in he talks about building the police –citizen trust, I do believe that these chiefs are sharp ( else considering the system.. they would never have reached this far), so these are just sound bytes for public consumption, they have hardly done anything concrete in this direction.

knows what he actually is looking for, not that this would change if he had six packs..but When a pot-bellied cop waves you down and asks for your papers, any law abiding Bangaloreanat least there is hope that he would be fair.I thought of listing out some of the most common anomalies in traffic in and around Bangalore . The scene is not very different in other cities either

a) We have so many traffic laws, nobody respects them as these cannot be enforced and we make even more , forget cities, even on highways you have HTV’s coming in the wrong direction with their headlights on!!

b) In Bangalore, today ,there are many vehicles with Number Plates in non English versions.In a cosmopolitan city and more importantly in a country where we have had terrorist activities like we have common cold!! What are the cops waiting for?? A catastrophe to happen before we crack down on this?? There is an old adage, A stitch in time saves Nine… and I believe this is very apt here, even the cops cannot read a kannada number plate in a panic situation, so why wait , Nip the offence at the bud.

c) The Cops wait just after a traffic light for people to break the law, while they should strive to ensure that the law is enforced in the first place.

d) We have the traffic offences and the fines listed on boards at various junctions, more a reminder on the options a cop has in booking you once he waves you down, I cannot see any other purpose.

e) Stroll in your neighbourhood and you see that 80% of the no parking signs are violated, yet we never tire of framing more laws and creating more avenues for harrasment of the law abiding public

f) Drive on to the Highway and you see many large vehicles with no tail lamps or Brake lamps, some don't even sport a readable number plate!! The heavy vehicles occupy the right-most lane, I'm sure we may have a higher compliance if we were to declare ourselves a left hand drive country.

The news papers, the local TV Channels and the denizens of Bengaluru never tire complaining about the state of the traffic. We talk of technology like synchronised traffic lamps to be deployed, fly overs to be built and speed cameras to be installed. Yes, these are necessary. These are necessary, but not sufficient.
If we need to solve issues we also need to ensure processes in place, learn to own our city and treat this like we would , our own home. We need to believe and practice that abiding the law has to begin with each of us. We need to stop circumventing the law, we need to ensure enforcement of the existing laws, failing which, we need to simply have them deleted. Law when not enforced, makes people take it too lightly as is seen in most places in Bangalore today.

But in order to do all this we need Law enforcers who are men of , we need honest enforcement officers, the respect and trust of the denizens will simply follow... A fence that eats the crop is a real nightmare...