But why the traffic jams before?
A peculiar yet accurate observation was brought to the attention of the SJ team, and we couldn’t agree lesser. This week, the East Khasi Hills district administration lifted restrictions on movement of private as well as public vehicles but traffic jams were, nonetheless, a regular 
affair prior to this decision.
An associate of the SJ team said, “…what came as a major shock to me personally was reading the edition of this newspaper on November 18th (I believe) and seeing a segment mention the Deputy Commissioner’s new order that vehicles (private and public) will now be allowed to ply in 100 per cent capacity”.
His surprise and temperament had a little uniqueness in it, so we asked him to continue. “Shocked about what, you ask? Prior to the order, every day has been a nightmare what with the traffic snarls taking me at least an hour or more to cover a distance of a mere 4.5 kilometres. And all along, I thought that such an order had already been issued months ago! I don’t know what the situation is today, but I really cannot even begin to imagine how life is going to be from here on,” he said.
“Well, I guess the one little positive I can take away during my extremely long drive to work would be that I can spend more time reflecting on my life in my car as I wait for traffic to slowly but (hopefully) surely fade away,” he concluded.
A biker’s chores
It is natural to realise that when one does not have a place to park a two-wheeler, there of course is no place to wash them either. Car wash hubs in the city are not in abundance and since cleaning is considered a personal job, most people figure it out through a term widely referred to as ‘jugaad’ (a temporary expedient or substitute).
The SJ team spoke to a few proud but disgruntled two-wheeler owners, who have always been in torment when time arrived for washing their rides.
“Somehow I have managed to secure a parking space around my area. I think that is a big prize in itself. For washing, however, I clearly knew there was no hope in this part of the town. I do it on the roadside, carry buckets of water from my home to the road. It is a gnarly task but we have to make do with what we have,” an owner of a scooty said.
An owner of a 160 kg-plus bike, however, had to say more about what was going on in his daily life when it came to the experiences pertaining to washing his ride. He said: “There are too many cracks and crevices in my bike. It takes me more than two hours to get rid of the dirt accumulated in these tricky parts. A pressure water spray gun is the key! But when there’s so much struggle for only parking your bike, where could one find a place to fix a pressure water gun let alone the space to work it (the gun)”.
On suggestions about opting to visit a car wash, he revealed that even the people at such places are reluctant to take in a bike for wash due to the time and effort it demands. “It (washing) is bothersome sometimes but necessary, too.”
A short visit to a car wish at a location in the city revealed that his narrations were actually true!
A car wash manned by three youths, who were sweating it out to finish washing their clients’ cars, was devoid of any bike. One of them said, “It is too troublesome to wash a bike, if you wish, you can use the space and wash it yourself we will only charge you for the water sprayer and other utilities such as soap etc.”
After delving more into the ins and outs of their workplace, they revealed that there was a bike in the corner which was kept for washing but hadn’t been attended to as more and more clients had come with cars, and according to them washing up a car is relatively much easier.
“This bike has been kept here since morning. Owners that agree to keep it here all day can get their bikes washed as we don’t want to give commitments about finishing it by a certain time,” the boy said.
“If you are willing to give us a day to wash it, you can check in late during the day and we would’ve done the job (by the day’s end), PROBABLY,” he said with a smirk.