Nagawara Signal

Traffic signal at Nagawara is at a busy junction in the Bangalore airport Road, and to add to the chaos of this junction, there are service roads joining it from all 4 sides... I have to pass this signal to go to work everyday, and for that matter, to go anywhere!

Motorists flying their bikes as if they were all Jet pilots, cars between buses looking like half-done sandwiches, and the 'we-are-so-oblivious-to-everything' lorries and BMTCs are a regular sight here. Even the people trying to cross the road wait for a bus to park right in centre of the road so that they can cross over the road.And this description will not be complete without talking about our dear autowala 'bhaiyyas' who are just not ready to negotiate about their a-leg-and-a-half rates and parking criss-cross, and squeezing in from all directions.

I always wonder about that poor dear traffic signal which is more like a silent mourning witness to all these. I mean, it dutifully blinks, changes lights and does whatever is expected out of it, but just does not gets the respect it deserves. If the policeman turns to the right, the vehicles on the left just pass by even when the signal says 'no', probably smirking. And at times when traffic is not all that heavy and there are no cops around, this signal has to witness the perfect chaos and fails in it attempt to help people with these flashing lights(since people do not even bother to glance at its direction) and end up being analyzed as the rootcause of many accidents which it had nothing to do with. Hmmm.. who cares about tri-colored things anymore, right?

Even the people make around is a subject of diversity. Ranging between professional-looking IT guys, 'am-so-cool' casually attired call-centre people, daily roti kamaane wale aam aadmi, hijjdas, beggers etc, this actually makes a perfect diversity club picture.

And moreover, this place holds a place in everybody's life for some reason. For me, this is where my chain was snatched by a thief (and my trip to police station on account of this which was the topic of one of my old blogs - Thief, my chain and Bangalore Police), the place where I have 'almost been hit - but just missed' by the most number of vehicles(owing to mine as well as others mistakes!), the spot until which I have got the most number of lifts since my teammates obligingly drops me here on their ways home, and the one place where I have fought with Auto-wallahs for the max number of times.

As time passes, probably a flyover may be constructed here to avoid the innumerable traffic jams or a seperate highway may be constructed to make the commutation to the new airport all the more easier, but Nagawara signal will always remain, dutiful like a great watchdog and flashing red, amber and green...