I feel like a day in Bombay is shorter than a day in say, Bahrain. Bahrain is rich, I’m sure they have beautifully controlled traffic and well thought out roads. And for all you know, people in Bahrain may not even need to travel…the oil simply lets them slide over to their destination of choice.
Digression aside. Bombay has shorter days simply because a major portion of the day is spent commuting. And when you are commuting, you are effectively doing nothing. Unless you count wondering if the cabbie gets hungry when he’s stuck like this everyday, wondering what is for dinner, wondering how that beggar managed to grow a boil that big. And other such fantastic deep things.
And lately I’ve heard Bangalore is no different. Not only are auto kaarans famously snobbish. They’re also immune to such beautifully directed insults as “ass****!!! Take me HOME!!!!!!”
Which is why Chennai, is so much nicer. (At least when wrapped in gauzy nostalgia.) Auto fares are negotiable; the smell of Murugan Idli Kadai drifts through the balmy summer air and at the end of the ride, a ten-rupee ticket movie in Satyam awaits you. Your countenance is even more cheerful when you think about the freedom from wardens and other monsters. But gauzy nostalgia usually means you're sitting on a memory bang out of college, and when realization dawns, the gauze gets all poky and uncomfortable.
And you suddenly remember that it was in Chennai that a serial killer once posed as an auto driver.
And since all these writings must have a purpose, mine was to ask all and sundry, which is your favourite big city to commute to work?
Posted by Meera.
Digression aside. Bombay has shorter days simply because a major portion of the day is spent commuting. And when you are commuting, you are effectively doing nothing. Unless you count wondering if the cabbie gets hungry when he’s stuck like this everyday, wondering what is for dinner, wondering how that beggar managed to grow a boil that big. And other such fantastic deep things.
And lately I’ve heard Bangalore is no different. Not only are auto kaarans famously snobbish. They’re also immune to such beautifully directed insults as “ass****!!! Take me HOME!!!!!!”
Which is why Chennai, is so much nicer. (At least when wrapped in gauzy nostalgia.) Auto fares are negotiable; the smell of Murugan Idli Kadai drifts through the balmy summer air and at the end of the ride, a ten-rupee ticket movie in Satyam awaits you. Your countenance is even more cheerful when you think about the freedom from wardens and other monsters. But gauzy nostalgia usually means you're sitting on a memory bang out of college, and when realization dawns, the gauze gets all poky and uncomfortable.
And you suddenly remember that it was in Chennai that a serial killer once posed as an auto driver.
And since all these writings must have a purpose, mine was to ask all and sundry, which is your favourite big city to commute to work?
Posted by Meera.
3 comments:
not delhi.
Montreal.
Chandigrah is a breeze to commute, with zero stop signals, only beautifully manicured roundabouts, clean roads that have traffic in both directions- of course I speak from a 5 year old memory
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