Observations from an evening out

Last evening, I made my way to the BEML area near Indira Nagar, to visit someone who had undergone a minor operation. I was passing through the always-crowded Old Madras Road, when an ambulance started sounding urgently. The siren went off again, and again, and again. In India, of course, we don’t really have the systems yet where ambulances get priority on roads. Thankfully, no one tried to overtake it - but no one could give way either; the road was jam-packed with no space to move. And then, a good distance before the Old Madras Road - Suranjan Das Road intersection, everyone just stopped - the signal was taking ages to clear. The ambulance kept booming away. When we finally reached the intersection, the cop on duty called a red again, just as the ambulance would have cleared it. Shouldn’t there be some mechanism for ambulance drivers to plug into the traffic system and alert cops ahead so that their side of traffic can be cleared soon ? 

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I reached BEML gate and sat down on a small platform outside the BEML office, to wait for my husband who was to pick me up from there. A young boy, about 10 or 11 years old, looked at the platform cautiously,  dusted it with his handkerchief to ensure that it was clean and then planted his butt on it. The next second, he spat on the pavement below. Two minutes later, he got up, looked around, perhaps waiting for someone, then - repeated the entire process all over again. Look - Clean - Sit - Spit.

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My husband picked me up, and a little ahead, we spotted a fruit vendor. I decided to get down and pick up some fruit to take the invalid. The man turned to me with a bright smile, and wished me, ‘Namaskara, Madam’. I looked behind me - perhaps he was wishing someone else? Then I looked at him closely, perhaps I knew him from somewhere else? I didn’t. Wished him back. The next customer stopped, and he wished him again, cheerfully. Perhaps this man instinctively understands something, both about courtesy and about selling.

Tags: Bangalore