Traffic Magic

Since there is nothing interesting happening around me, I thought this one would put things in perspective.

This morning as usual on my way to office, I was crossing the road (Park Street) at the zebra crossing in front of my office building. There’s always a traffic constable there who assists in the way of stopping the traffic when he sees a sizeable number of pedestrians trying to crass the road. He manages this in between collecting fees from bikers who keep their bikes in “his” parking lot. Today as usual I came to the zebra crossing and it was bumper to bumper traffic as usually and then his walkie-talkie goes into a dizzying buzz. He whistles at a couple of cabs parked on the side. The last of the traffic had disappeared and merrily crossed the road without hesitation. Only then did I realise why there was absolute silence in the usually deafening street at this time of the morning. Some VIP was going to pass.

Sure enough sirens wailing I caught a glimpse of the first Maruti Gypsy all red and white and with its lights flashing while I dived into my pocket to pull out my Nokia 6630. It was a bit too late to pull out my camera from my backpack and I would just have to make do with my mobile phone camera. The Gypsy loaded with Commandos whizzed past followed closely by several white Ambassadors. By the time I managed to click picture number 2, I caught the tail end of the motorcade, a white Maruti Gypsy also loaded with Commandoes and a blue Mahindra Commander Jeep of the Kolkata Traffic Police.

It was silent for several minutes thereafter. Then again I saw the onslaught of traffic and the sheer mayhem of honking.

I just wonder how the Kolkata Traffic Police manage to sanitise a road and clear it in minutes for the Chief Minister to pass and yet can’t manage the utter chaos that engulfs the streets of Kolkata.