How else to express the so called “Quality” of riding/ driving we experience in India? That’s the perfect rhetoric.

Don’t know whether roads have potholes or the potholes have roads!!! It’s that bad….

And when rainy season is at its full throttle, that is the time when potholes become all the more interesting, all the more lively, with water filled in them upto the brim, and then out of nowhere those hi-fi- SUV’s come in full swing, and bounce themselves into those fabulous potholes, and just in case you happen to be one of the silly, unlucky pedestrians passing by, going by with your life calmly, the next minute you find yourself nicely drenched in muddy stains! All thanks to the potholes.

Riding a two wheeler is all the more challenging amidst these overwhelming potholes. Every second the rider tries his level best to avoid one pothole, only to see himself, his scooter and the person sitting behind him going totally overboard, right in the middle of another pothole!  So it’s like if you miss one, don’t think you are too lucky—because there’s another bigger one waiting around the next corner and you’d definitely get your two wheeler into that one!!!

It’s as if the road construction guys are standing around one of those corners and quietly sneaking upon the hurdle race being run/ ridden/ driven by us, and wryly smiling their way remarking “ kaisa maza aa raha hain”! kind of expressions. That’s because they know these things happen, they have being seen it occurring every time, yet, they seem so ignorant; so oblivious to the circumstances!

When it comes to these bumpy rides across Indian cities, it’s definitely not a “paisa vasool” for users—those of us who pay taxes have ourselves to pay the brunt for poor maintenance of these roads. And that’s the most ridiculous aspect.

A huge amount of capital is being invested for Mega Highway Projects, which are looking forward to be at par with the international standards and all…… But what’s happening on the local level, local inroads within cities, where these bumpy rides never seem to recede—in fact just before the advent of monsoons, roads within cities are repaired, and just after the monsoon, one can see a surplus of potholes have sprung up on every nook and corner of a road. It happens all the time, yet how conveniently authorities manage to turn a blind’s eye to such large, deep, obvious looking potholes.

I guess it’s all a part of Habit now….Old Habits die hard they say, and how true it is….it’s all become a habit for average Indians to carry on with their lives, accepting and living with the potholes, managing their rides/ drives (potholes all inclusive)—It all comes in a package you see (the road, the speed breakers/ the potholes)!!!……

And then it’s all become a habit for the road authorities’ guys—who are completely swept away by a Sub Kuch Chalta Hain syndrome, where as a part of their habits, it’s all kept simple— more the rains, more are the potholes which you and I are made to confront.

A pit full of corruption is scattered all on the roads—and in the cheap raw material used to construct those roads….The less we say, the better. After all, that is the “understood” aspect. It’s all a part of the larger system.

So the next time you venture out for such Bumpy Rides, don’t get bogged down. It’s all the part of a larger scheme of things!

Quite honestly put- When I look at potholes, they talk to me somewhat in this manner “ Love me, Hate me, but you can’t Ignore me!!!”  And then I make my vehicle experience those endless bumpy rides, I give one look at those potholes, do the routine hurdle race, and move on……….! After all, I’m just one small participant in this larger scheme of things!, just one small fish in this mammoth ocean!………

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