The Hindu : New Delhi News : Inside delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 26, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

Inside delhi

A city in a hurry

Delhi wears its patience thin. Over-speeding cars, rashly-driven Blueline buses and red light-jumping motorists have become more a rule than an exception. And it seems Delhiites are not willing to wait for a few moments even if it involves their own safety.

The other day a huge machine of Delhi Metro was carrying a pre-cast span to be fixed on the overhead metro line near East End Apartments in Mayur Vihar Phase I.

As the road was narrow and sloping, only one-way traffic could be allowed. The Metro staff, therefore, decided to block traffic from the other side.

The supervisors initially thought a couple of personnel would be adequate to do the job. But soon they were forced to re-think. The fact that motorists could not see the heavy machine due to the huge signboards installed on the periphery of the construction sites did not help matters either.

A handful of two-wheelers were simply not in the mood to pay heed to the staff. There were a couple of others, including a policeman riding a motorcycle without a helmet, who wanted to go ahead using a second diversion that was left open. Add to that a few motorists who had resorted to incessant honking in a bid to get early clearance: none of them seemed willing to believe that there was a valid and sound reason for the Metro personnel to block traffic.

Somehow good sense prevailed among the Metro staff who called in reinforcements immediately. Also, from waving batons and putting up ropes to stop traffic, they came down to personally requesting the impatient motorists, literally with folded hands, to stop just for a few minutes.

The sight of the huge machine carrying the huge span should have made the motorists realise that the Metro personnel were so insistent on stopping them only for their own safety!

Prashant Pandey

Night out

The Comesum outlet at Nizamuddin railway station provides a culinary haven for loads of weary party-goers looking for a quick bite at a time when half the city is slumbering in a blissful embrace.

Most nights are no exception, with young couples heading for the restaurant for a snack after an abbreviated, clandestine or just plain regular encounter at the dappled car park. Preferring to sit in the open courtyard, enveloped by the comforting heat radiating from open cauldrons, visitors to the eating joint comprise mainly seasoned couples, not the love-struck, gape-eyed variety that are wont to frequent diurnal hot spots due to stringent parent-imposed curfews. As the night air thickens with wafts of appetite-inducing fragrances, the crowd keeps pouring in.

This past weekend, however, the most noticeable party at this unlikely hot spot was led by a striking looking young man who had brought along four older women -- presumably visiting aunts or acquaintances -- for a late snack.

Even though midnight had struck, several weary, young heads turned in faint acknowledgment of this gallant gesture on the part of the strapping lad who had apparently chosen to take his aging acquaintances out over other younger individuals that he was certain to befriend.

The clincher of the evening, though, was that in a restaurant opened with the intent of attracting on-the-go railway passengers, there was not a single customer who appeared to be in transit.

Kunal Diwan

Traffic rules

A blessing for some and a bane for others, cycle-rickshaws have come to be an indispensable part of our urban landscape.

While several efforts have been made to engage automobile users in a dialogue to solve the Capital’s unending traffic woes, not much attention has been paid to involve cycle-rickshaw pullers in this direction.

However, in a departure from the past, Initiative for Transportation and Development Programmes, a non-government organisation working on traffic and transportation issues, organised a training workshop on traffic rules and road safety for cycle-rickshaw drivers here this past week.

Organised at Janakpuri in association with Road Safety Cell of the Delhi Traffic Police, the event attracted over 170 cycle-rickshaw drivers from Janakpuri, Uttam Nagar, Vikaspuri, Nilothi, Pankha Road and surrounding areas.

As part of the workshop, the participants were educated and sensitised about various traffic rules, dos and don’ts, road sign boards and road safety measures that should be followed while plying rickshaws on roads, keeping in mind their own safety and convenience as well as the convenience and safety of other road users and vehicles.

Manisha Jha

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi