The Ways of the Highways!

I have had a decent amount of driving experience.. close to 4 years. And I have driven accross cities, inside cities.. hill driving is something which I havent been allowed to do. I have been thorugh UP highways, Haryana highways and Bangalore highways too. Well, its a pleasure to drive on Haryana highways. For one, the roads are quite nicely maintained and infrastructure etc is good.. but the most important thing is the traffic sense. Haryana roadways bus drivers are such well mannered people on the road.. you wont hear unnecessary honking on the road, they will let you pass gracefully (and that too from the correct side!). And its not just the roadways bus people but the truck drivers, auto drivers.. Another thing that is admirable is the way the highway is designed. For people who need to turn right or take a U-turn, there is an intersection bay so that they can quietly slip there and turn when convenient without haulting the mainroad traffic. You can easily manage a 90-100 kmph on these roads with an "A" segment car also. Compare this to UP driving - it makes you go mad!. They wont let you pass and incase they do let you pass, they wont let you go without giving you one of those "dekh loonga bacchhuu!" looks. Honking is like a driver's toy on the road. Lane changing is as common as shifting gears. The roads are not in good shape 50-60% of the time! I dont know.. the difference maybe because Haryana is a richer state and however corrupt the government has been there, they have always spent on development of the state. UP in contrast has had little or no development overall. But then, I must say.. whatever be the reason, people of Haryana know their traffic sense.. its nice to drive on those highways after driving in Delhi also. It makes you feel that driving can be fun too.. Its the way of the Highway!

The Sultans of Forwards

Its been some time we were exposed to the revolution of email.. but the imaturity of a ten year old still haunts the minds of young adults using email. I cant remember a single day when my inbox did not have "forwards" - from school mailing lists, college mailing lists, placements groups, preparation groups - not advertising spam but forwards sent in full conciousness by people who otherwise seem sane. Mushy flowers, cute animals, distorted faces.. one-liners, blonde jokes, sardarji jokes.. And not once, each forward has a cycle to complete and more often than not,a forward reaches an active inbox atleast 4-5 times.. There is another category of forwards which highlights indian achievements in the foreign soil looking for a reason to say "I am a proud Indian.. Are you?" But the facts these mails qoute are mostly false, created by some idiot typing away at a lame terminal. Percentage of indians in Microsoft, Intel etc.. A mail qouted 35% of Microsoft's employees are indians.. whereas, actually 5-10% of people there are indians (which is good too considering that India accounts for some 1% of US population only). And how can I forget the Sultans of forwards who have driven superstition to the unsuspecting field of IT also.. we have chain letters. I dont know when people will grow up and understand that chain letters are creations of people who have nothing else to do. Its not a message from the heaven! Chain letters existed during the snail mail days too.. but like everything, they have become saddled with technology too.. People instead of writing something creative themselves or maybe sharing some news (if its a batchmates group) or debating (if its a discussion group) send a forward. Is to make your presence felt? Then dont make it felt! Rather, just read what other people write.. but dont be a part of the spamming community that is increasing in size even as I finish this post..