Lessons from Chennai Traffic!

Having been brought up in a “rural area”, my experience in the roads of Chennai for the past few months has changed my perspective of the people in India in general. As I wait everyday at the numerous signals that dominate the roads here, I m left thinking as to why we are so impatient! The traffic signals make us wait for a maximum of 90 seconds, whereas the majority of them are only timed at 45 to 60 seconds. Yet, I find most people running the red lights! Are we so impatient that we can’t wait for the green signal? Or are we so badly organized that we are in so much of a hurry? Either way, the fault is on us. The former reflects a sense of lack of ethics while the later reflects lack of discipline. Then, I wasn’t so surprised at why we aren’t able to make a clean living! To get every simple job done, the offices in the city ask for “payments”. Isn’t it time we realized there is no shortcut to get everywhere? You may say, it’s just a traffic light and that I m blowing things out of proportion, but it’s the small things that actually decide the major ones. So the next time you think of running a red signal, stop and think. It’s after all just a minute! Why do you wanna risk that???  Cant wait for a minute??? Why cant you wait for your turn?!