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Bandra To Andheri in 1st Gear

Mumbai Vs Shanghai ... This dream sounds too good to be true. I understand we are making a progress in the right direction towards face lifting Mumbai to the likes of Shanghai. However the trauma that one has to go through presently is something that the NHRC would like to take up as a cause.
Lets rewind a couple of days back . Its 10th July 2008. After having spent a wonderful day at my friends Birthday at Bandstand , I head back home. This is the first time I opt out of dropping my friends at Sion , this is just because of the thought of the torture I will be faced ahead. So I bid good bye to everyone and race my way home around 7 PM in the evening. Just hoping that I would still be able to by pass the rush hour traffic snarl.
So now i zoom past MET , Lilavati , Reclamation , Kalanagar and boom ! Its Kherwadi junction for crying out loud . I quickly switch down gears ..5 . ..4...3..2.. 1 ... damn 1 !!!! The traffic could be seen till the horizon. All the destressing by the wonderful endless ocean at Bandstand was shattered by this endless traffic snarl. And thus began my gruesome journey to my home (Andheri ) .
I turned on the radio and all I could hear was the rising number of rats in Mumbai ! I was so bugged coz of the traffic that i decided not to switch channels. ( OK i have stopped capitalizing my I's now .. just too much of an effort ) . What the Radio channel didnt focus was on the rising numbers of cars in Mumbai which is almost equivalent to the number of rats.
I knew the cause of the traffic was the construction of the new fly over at Santacruz airport. But God O God ... This traffic just wasnt moving.... The clock kept ticking and with each tick the traffic would move a few mm's.
To add to my misery it started raining. I knew this was gonna be a long drive back home. In my innovative attempts to kill time I took out my cellphone and also clicked some amateurish snaps. Was feeling a professional photographer then , but now feel like laughing at the pics .



I took a look at my watch it was 8:15 .. I had barely crossed the flyover between Santacruz and Bandra .
The rage behind every steering was quite inevitable. A slight lapse on your part and the horns would go honking like War cry ! My average speed from Bandra to Santacruz was like 5 km/hr.
I reached the dreaded bottle neck at Santacruz airport. Trying to curse the authorities for having me go through this. The nightmarish ride was just about to end. I had survived through the most difficult part of the drive. Crawling at a snails place I managed to reach Andheri around 9 PM .
Once i reached my checkpoint at Andheri, I zoomed to the checkered flag in 15 min flat !
I realized that it took me about 2 hrs to cover a distance of 7 Kms. My average speed was 10 km/hr .
The gear stick from Bandra to Andheri was glued at 1st gear ......

Comments

archana said…
hey ankur thats a very bad experience of yours. But such problems is usually faced until the flyover is built. Hope after that, the traffic will b free moving. Moreover think of people who travel through this everyday.
reading ur blog felt like another chetan bhagat in the making ,good one mate keep it up.
ReIncArNated said…
Thanks Paddy.. ur comments are much appreciated :) Hope to keep this space updated on regular basis.
Gaurav said…
Lol, shanghai is still a long way to go. And nano revolution is yet to take place ;)
ReIncArNated said…
HEy ! 3 lanes of the new flyover were thrown open for traffic since yesterday. Just had a chance to come via the same route again. Its a better ride now :)

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