The auto misses your vehicle by an inch, the bus driver decides not to brake despite the signal turning red, vehicles continue to move forward like a herd of sheep. Pedestrians lose their temper and try to stop your vehicle so they can cross the road, you decide not to stop for them and honk your way past. The honking overdose is accompanied by high pollution levels. “Make way for me” is the motto of Chennai traffic.
There are well established traffic rules in Chennai like in any other big city. However, following the rules is too mainstream for Chennaites. What do they do? Break the rules, create problems and try to find solutions for the same. Might as well follow the rules in the first place.
Lanes? We haven’t heard of them in Chennai. Heavy vehicles and two wheelers use the same lane. In fact, the concept of driving in lanes hasn’t arrived here yet (or have we gone beyond it?). The absence of lanes doesn’t bother Chennaites. They are ‘street-smart’, literally.
The main culprits are the auto drivers. These men are known for their perfectly-judged filling of every possible gap on the road. They see them as voids, cavities that need to be filled. The auto right in front of the blue bus (see image) describes this situation clearly. It squeezes itself in position that restricts movement in all directions.
Owner-driven cars are the most vulnerable, the ones who complain the most about the traffic and score the least in street-smartness. Those on bike, much to the envy of car drivers, manoeuvre their small vehicles with ease through a path that would lead them as close as possible to the signal.
Amidst all chaos lies an understanding between the drivers in which lies the solution to the problem created by the disorder. A visitor from overseas would describe the picture as a panic situation. It, however, isn’t one and Indians know it.
T. Nagar is one area infamous for its traffic. The ‘uncle from next door’ described his experience the other day. He waited behind a car for minutes only to realise that the driver in the car had no intention of moving.
What follows from Pondy Bazaar is an amazingly straight stretch of traffic congestion. The stretch contains an exceedingly large number of alarmingly over-crowded share autos. They stop their vehicles right at the sight of a prospective passenger irrespective of the number of seats available. Passengers fill the share auto completely, even the tiny space over the engine, next to the gear box.
Despite the fatiguing traffic situation, it is the understanding that gives a person the nerve to brave the traffic and make it through.
And what is this understanding? It is when you decide not to panic even when the vehicles behind you honk relentlessly. It is when you know the auto driver is at fault and you shout at him for the same. It is when you understand pavements are meant for hawkers and encroachments and roads are meant for walking and driving en masse.
In short, it is when you realise ‘the roads are filled with idiots’.
(Adithya is a Mechanical Engineering student at SSN College of Engineering, Chennai.)