Pedestrian dignity

Being a pedestrian on Delhi roads is not an easy task. It requires a lot of learning the unwritten rules and on the job skill up gradation for an individual to be a deft pedestrian. In many parts of the city pedestrian strips are rare luxury – either they are not there or broken or occupied by some street vendor etc. So one has to use of road sides for the purpose – a difficult task though; with parked vehicles royally gracing the road sides and occupying one fourth of the breadth of roads. So one has to have real mastery over all sensory organs to keep them alert and coordinated to walk on the available side of the road and avoid being hit by a speeding vehicle.

Crossing the road requires even more skill. If you are standing at the zebra for safe crossing, you are doing that at your own peril and with time get wiser to the fact that speeding vehicles come to a screeching halt at the end of zebra instead of its beginning. Even if the signal is green you must walk fast or run to cover the distance. Because the moment green becomes amber, despite your five feet size you become invisible and nonexistent to those behind the wheels of four or more wheelers. You never know when and by whom you might be run over, unless you have made it to the other side before the green light turns amber. And if the road is not important enough to have a zebra then you wait like a cat ready to prowl on its pray – ever watchful on both side of the road measuring the distance between own body and the speeding vehicles vis a vis time for a flight to the other side; to make the scoot on a perfect moment.

Well, not all the time the men/women on the wheels are blind to your existence. There are people who are rather gracious enough to be within a speed limit that reduces the threat of your being run down. They are like the barking dogs instead of biting ones. In these occasions your ear drums are at trial – for the mercy of a lower speed you have to bear the sound of high peach constant honking, showing that you are sore spot on the free passage of those mighty four or more legged high and mighty movers on the road.

Being used to such a highly skilled affair of commuting, I was amazed at the sheer lack of thrill and deft on being a pedestrian on roads of the cities I visited in UK and then Switzerland. You notice that everywhere in the city, roads are flanked by pedestrian strips all along and without obstruction, also at market places. Even if some entertainer is performing with a bowl/box in front, for public to throw coins in, they leave enough space for pedestrians to walk freely. And you are supposed to walk only on the pedestrian strips even if the road is empty. On my first day being unfamiliar with the rule I was walking on the road in the colony and a cyclist stopped by my side to tell me, “You are walking on the middle of the road!” Needless to say that disgust was clearly writ on his face.

On the roads generally zebras are there and pedestrians cross the road there. The vehicles on the change of signal do stop just before the zebra. And on the signal posts there are switches for the pedestrians. If you want to cross the road then push the button and wait for the signal to turn green for the pedestrians! Coming to terms with this sudden lift in status was as awkward as it was for the character of Julia Roberts getting into a classy dress for the first time; gifted by the character played by Richard Gere in the film 'Pretty Woman'!

But things became really out of place, almost like bollywood dream situation; when I reached Olten in Switzerland. I reached the zebra to cross a road and looked both sides. A big tram was just ten meters away from zebra. I waited with utter reverence (that I have learnt to show to big vehicles back home) for the vehicle to pass before I cross. Let me clarify, this incidence did not happen at any traffic signal. It was on an ordinary stretch of road. To my surprise instead of speeding away the big giant stopped three feet away from the zebra. I however did not buzz from my place wondering why the vehicle stopped. Then I saw the driver in the tram signalling me to cross the road! Amazed and amused I crossed the road. I reached the other end of the road and turned around to see the tram. Its wheels started rolling and sped away. The whole thing did not make any sense for me and I presumed the driver to be one of the kindest souls in the country.

Half an hour later at another zebra exact repetition of the same process happened, with change in the nature and number of vehicles. This time the vehicles which stopped were two cars and both men at the respective wheels signalled me to cross the road before they resumed their onward journey! This could not be coincidence that all the drivers I was crossing that day were gracious souls from heaven! It has to have some logic.

Third time I did not wait for the vehicles to wait, I started crossing the zebra and to my half expectation the speeding cars had lowered their speed and smoothly halted at the zebra, allowed me time to cover my distance and next second they were in their normal speed again.

So this honeymooner’s paradise, this beautiful bounty of nature, this wealthy country of banks, chocolates and watches actually accords dignity to a pedestrian! With a highly developed and systematic public transportation, in Switzerland you find people prefer to travel by trains, buses and trams than private cars; though probably most of them own cars. So pedestrians are not lowly creatures one feels to be on a road back home. It seems the driving lessons even teach the drivers to be alert to the body language of a pedestrian and should slow down if they judge an intention on the part of pedestrian to cross the road.

I still am wondering at the factors behind the difference there and in country while reminiscing of the royally dignified experience of being a pedestrian!