Do it yourself

Fruit salad and helmets It was summer of 1992. The weathermen had announced the arrival of monsoon, a few days ago; though it had not rained even once. Weather was hot and humid – just the way mosquitoes, houseflies, fungi, and a variety of bacteria & viruses love it. People, especially children, were suffering from infections. The city administration was daily issuing half/full page newspaper advertisements cautioning people against disease outbreak, and guiding them to maintain personal hygiene, stay hydrated and avoid consuming street food, especially cut fruits. Several billboards and posters were also put up across the city. My office was located on Indraprastha Marg, one of the busiest streets in the city, just opposite an imposing building housing the Delhi Police headquarter (DPHQ). Around 100 meters away from DPHQ, there was a major bus stop (ITO). Several fruit chat vendors would sell cut fruits & vegetables like watermelon, pineapple, cucumber, coconut, etc. Th...

The opening sequence of the classic Ron Livingston starer “Office Space” (1999, Mike Judge), succinctly depicts the popular saying – “the other queue always moves faster”. I always remember this sequence when I see motorists trying a variety of tricks to change lanes at toll plazas on Indian highways. The drivers display daring skills to exit lanes, make lateral moves towards other lanes, mostly blocking the movement in both the lanes and causing an instant commotion – honking and showering of expletives. The show is quite entertaining, if you are not in a rush; else it is annoying and dismaying at the same time. As a regular driver on the highways and expressways, I can vouch that the system of toll collection still needs tremendous improvement – both in terms of operations as well as the method. Inefficient operations and faulty methods have nullified significant part of the benefits of infrastructure upgrade and Fastag payments. Many highway users have also expressed their dissati...