21 January, 2008

Traffic keeps me fit!

This is related to my earlier post or can be called as a prequel.

It is necessary to warm-up your body before you start with your exercises. But warm-ups are usually quite boring. The sight of a dumb-bell keeps me away from my warm-up exercises. Staying in Mumbai, or rather traveling in Mumbai, helps ensure that I don't miss out on this vital part of exercising.

The traffic, while coming back from office, is so dense that it is impossible (ok, not impossible, but extremely difficult) for even a bike to get through it. Powai's IIT area has a magnet placed secretly somewhere. No matter what hour of the day or night, the traffic just refuses to move an inch.
You can well imagine the plight of the huge, king-sized red vehicle that I travel in. Who says that the stronger and the bigger you are, the mightier you get?

Having born with extremely low levels of patience, the only solution I can find to beat this traffic is getting down and walk! A quick 20 minute walk from Ajahara shopping center to IIT market is what I do, and then catch another bus to get home. However stupid it might sound, this saves loads of time and also warms-up my body for the exercises! Ah! Never mind the the various poisonous gases that I inhale during this period!

Mumbai's traffic helps me keep fit!

P.S. One particular line from the lead India movement by the Times of India comes to mind while on the subject of traffic. Had this SRK advertisement running on TV wherein he says, "You are never stuck in a traffic jam, YOU are the traffic jam!!!" So true! (Must compliment the writer of this line. But its just better to remember it as an SRK ad. Though, I feel sorry for the writer.)

Another thing comes to mind about the BEST buses as this post started off with the might of these very vehicles.
To understand why I use the word 'mighty' for these bus, just try standing very close to the front of the bus. And look at it in the face! It is HUGE!! Especially, the old buses. And the job of manoeuvering these huge creatures on congested roads must be so damn difficult, and this certainly deserves a standing ovation. (Well, stand is what I do in the bus...who gets a place to sit?)

We should learn not to make an issue of the accidents that these buses sometimes cause. After all, how many accidents are caused by these buses? Certainly not as many as those caused by bikes and cars. And, to think of it that there are hundreds of these buses on roads everyday. I have never come across any situation where I could find fault with the driver or the conductor, who is generally assumed to be a rude person. What they do day in and day out is certainly not what a normal person can do. What the two of them in each bus do is something out of the ordinary. And to bear the irritating passengers! Wow! Hell of a job, for sure!

No comments: