I remember my first visit to the United States over a decade ago. Landing from my small, bustling hometown of Meerut, India, I was instantly awestruck. The silence, the systematic flow of traffic, the lack of honking—it was a world engineered for flawless human convenience. Everything was neat, clean, and in order . For nearly a year, I was hypnotized. I praised this country for its efficiency, its cleanliness, and, notably, its lack of stray animals . Where were the dogs, the cows, the insects that are a normal part of life back home? The US, I thought, was truly a superior model of civilization. My clothes never even collected dust; it seemed the entire landscape was sterilized. But as the years passed, the hypnosis began to fade. I started asking a darker question: What is the price of this perfect order? The Cost of the Empty Road My initial praise for the US was based on what I didn't see: no stray animals, no swarming insects, no dust. I realized this absence wasn't a s...
It is the middle of May 2024 and the city of Chandigarh is burning, the peak temperature touches 43 degrees.
I am sitting in the comfort of an air-conditioned room, and I feel for the thousands of people who have to work outside in the sun.
This place was not that hot when I moved here 10 or 12 years back.
The air was much cleaner and the sky was visible in its natural colour, blue, back then and yes the roads were visible too, for there was less traffic.
Slowly and surely this place too is being engulfed by the human species.
Stoppage time at traffic lights is getting longer, with at some intersections it is a good three minutes.
Don't know if anyone has observed or not, but there were no traffic lights at many intersections ten or 12 years back.
Reaching the office from my home has become nothing less than a battle, which I have to fight every day.
During office hours, when people are sprinting to beat their attendance register and arrive on time, it is now normal to see up to 4 traffic policemen at one intersection.
The beauty for which Chandigarh is famous across the nation is slowly becoming a headache for it.
The distinct feature of Chandigarh is its roundabouts.
For those who have not been to Chandigarh ever, it is a circular park at many road intersections. All these roundabouts are well-maintained and give a distinct look to the city.
Whoever came out with this thought, aka, Le-Corbusier's uncle has done a pretty well job of designing.
Unfortunately, back then when our Corbusier uncle was busy designing the city on paper, he must have not thought of the extent population would increase in this place.
It is said that Chandigarh city is already having people much more than the capacity it was designed for.
Standing back at the roundabouts again. It is because of these roundabouts that these intersections need to be manned by four traffic policepersons. Otherwise, only one traffic policeman would have controlled an intersection.
Chaos plus, the stoppage time too has increased because of these roundabouts. Although I do not move across the city daily, but I have observed this phenomenon at least on five intersections.
For example, the PGI - university lights. When I moved to Chandigarh, there used to be no lights at this intersection, now, it takes a good 2 - 3 minutes to cross this intersection.
A unique problem with these roundabouts is that they have raised the need for more stoppage points and more traffic lights.
Because of these roundabouts, there are eight traffic lights at intersections, which if these roundabouts are not there, will be reduced to only four.
Say, you are moving from university towards PGI and have to turn right on Madhya Marg, then you will have to stop at two points at that intersection.
In the past ten years I have been living here, I have already seen the circumference of these roundabouts being reduced.
This is done to create more room for the increasing traffic.
It is quite likely that in the coming time, these roundabouts will have to be cut out.
Point of No Return
The problem is there, like cancer and it is growing, but there is no permanent solution for it. The end will be, one day we will crush ourselves in our own weight.
When I came here, I had only one motorcycle, now I have three vehicles. The same is the case with every household.
The size of roads is the same but the number of vehicles has increased and continues to increase. All the adjustments that we make are only temporary solutions.
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