Unethical parking..

Chennai is buzzing with big traffic these days and we can't escape the clutches of congestion irrespective of the ways we take to reach our destinations. There has been a common voice among the people of the city that has started sounding louder lately against the Traffic policemen, who, in an attempt to make Chennai a traffic-free city, took exactly the wrong course and made Chennai a city full of one-way roads. Thus, if you are a Chennaiite and if you wish to travel from Guindy bus stop to Adyar malar hospital, it is no more an easy task like what it used to be few months back. You are not supposed to take the straight road that connects these two places. Instead, you are required to travel straight towards Saidapet and take a right turn, which would bring you back to the straight road that connects Guindy junction to Adyar. This means instead of followin one edge of the triangular path, you would be diverted to take the longest route from one point to the another on this triangular setup and this incurs you loss of time, fuel, energy and most of all, health. If you have the heart to put a halt for piling up disheartening facts which have been given room by improper planning process carried on by the traffic policemen and consider the imperfectionists within ourselves, we can design so many ways to evade the traffic problems that are posing extreme discomfort to the public. I happened to catch the view of a bike that was parked right at the middle of the road parellal to my street last night. It was one of the busiest roads in the locality that has dedicated all its space for residential complexes. Initially, I thought it belongs to a policeman since the rules had been changed (AGAIN) and the street had been turned into a one-way. Indian policemen have the habit of using their bikes, registered to Government, as barricades to prevent the entry of vehicles into certain streets. Later, I realized it belongs to a man who was so sincere to the person who called up to his mobile phone. While this man was busy with his conversation over the phone, I found 3 cars standing one behind the other, waiting for this mobile man to show some generosity towards them. After having a glance at the chaos that was about to be created at that place, he turned away to concentrate more on the conversation. After few seconds, there was a complete congestion on the street because of the blockade dropped in by these 3 cars in the front. As a result, the adjoining main road suffered a big congestion that led to a big inconvenience to all those who decided to pay a visit to the area. Thus, a small irresponsible act could lead to a big hassle in the environment surrounding the cause. Thus, being responsible isn't a choice. That is the rule to be followed by not only the policemen but also by every single person who is called a citizen.

The Ironman..

You would have watched the movie Ironman. I liked this movie since I loved the way Robert Downey Jr. had played the role of Tony Stark. I found his French beard and hairstyle really adorning. But, I would like to disclose the fact that you won't find anything related to that movie in this post. If you are searching for a movie review, please quit reading further. In this post, I would be discussing about an interesting character, who lives very closer to my place. A family consisting of a dad, a mom and a younger brother is all that he owns apart from the half trousers and shirts which he puts on. He is a puny guy whose life runs on alcohol. In fact, I should say his life is swimming across an ocean of alcohol.:P Whenever we take the game of cricket to the street, we would lose at least 2 minutes because of this guy, who needs a lot of time to walk from one end of the street to the other since the path he follows would be totally uncertain and even God doesn't know what he would step on the next moment. Some of my friends even admire this guy because no matter how much alcohol occupies the small space provided by his stomach, he would still walk, though not along a straight path. Sometimes, he would even encourage the cricketer within him by grabbing the cricket bat from us and commands the bowler to bowl the best delivery he could! It was almost 11P.M last night when I went out to get some bananas which would make good food during late night blogging. I found this guy talking something to the Deity inside a small temple at the end of the street. After passing by him, I heard a sudden thump behind me and I turned around to find the man lying down with his back flat on the ground. I wasn't in a position to help him get on his feet because I feared my dad would suspect me for drinking! Hence, all that I managed to do was to give job for my 1.3 Mega pixel mobile camera. Here is the picture that shows you the Indian version of Ironman!

Animals still rule the world!!

If you have the patience to go through the entire post, you can call yourself an animal lover. Do you really think we give these creatures which are deprived of the ability to express their emotions as we do the needed and the real value? I consider animals as good as humans. After all, a man is a sociable animal. Respecting animals so much as you respect human beings is highly essential. I can cite so many incidents I came across so far where animals were tormented to keep man's business going. When I was in 11th standard, I found few boys smaller than me running after a rat on the road. I expected them not to hurt that defenseless creature. But, I felt really disheartened watching what happened after that. Those three boys pounded the rat using a stone that would have weighed at least 10kgs. The rat managed to escape the assault and started running for its life again with enormous scratches and bruises on its back. Our boys, in no position to give up their brave attempt on a powerful rat, chased it down and used the same guerrilla attack. This time, fate failed to give the rat a second chance. All that was there in the end was a rat that was brutally killed after few final painful seconds. Everything happened before I could stop pedaling and get down from the bicycle. Now what is the use in taking those 3 nasty brats to task? I was as pathetic as that rat was before it died very badly.

This is just one of several incidents that take place everyday but fail to get our attention. Once I happened to find a bullock cart just opposite to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. For the amount of load the cart carried, even a pair of bullocks wouldn't be sufficient to drag the cart comfortably or at least with the least pain on their backs. This man was forcing the bull so hard to pull the cart that appeared like a pile of sandbags and to add to this, the animal was made to go uphill along the road that should actually be called a subway. I was wondering what amount of effort the bull would have put in keeping the load stable behind it while coming down the slope.

A lot of such incidents happened on my way to college in all these 4 years. Grand South Trunk is so grand only in its name. My journey to college covered 27km of the road that can rightly be called as the road to hell for most of those unlucky stray dogs that managed to find their places along the roadside of GST. Since that is the primary road that connects Chennai to the places in Southern Part of Tamil Nadu directly, heavy vehicle traffic is always at its peak even at night times. The poor dogs with no shelter try to reach the other side of the road but unfortunately, the heavy wheels of the road imps in the form of trucks and lorries driven by ruthless drivers who give away nothing for the lives of these poor creatures, make most of them as flat as the road is. What I got to see on the road were dried skins of dogs that became preys to the wheels. Whenever I see this visual, something in me tells 'That was the skin which was covering a live creature which was once fondled by its mother when it was a pup'. Thus, drivers on GST don't use two things-brakes and their brains.

People, we forget the fact that humans have been on this earth only for the past few thousand years. Animals are here for more than millions of years. It's their world and we are here using it as a rent-free place to dwell. Therefore, it’s very important to respect the lives of animals and give them priority over human beings who are most of the times shelled by intentions. Your dog wags its tail on seeing you for no reason. But, a man won't talk to you unless a reason drives him. That is the difference between these two animals. So, next time if anyone calls you a dog, feel proud that you are put at a level above human beings.

If there is one man who deserves real respect, that would be Mr.Sundaram who paved the way for the establishment of the society of Blue cross, Madras.

He was the man who couldn't just go away after he saw two pups struggling for their lives along the roadside. He gave them shelter. He founded the Blue Cross society of Madras. Saving an animal life equals helping 100 orphans. Stop the atrocities caused to animals. Don't just walk away like a selfish human next time you see an animal suffering. Don't let an animal suffer because of you. Let us try to be humans which is how we are known. Now, humans are supposed to visit the site given below at least once:

http://www.bluecross.org.in/

It takes not more than Rs.1000/- from you to become a member of the Blue Cross Society. Your money will help the society feed some of the animals in bad living conditions. This is more divine than donating thousand bottles of blood to save human lives.

Animals are known for their loyalty. Man is considered as a liability.

This is still a world that belongs to them. Don't try to grab it away from them.