What’s the rush?
Dangerous are those rampant overtakes on the road, through which commuters often put their lives and others at jeopardy.
There seems to be an unexplainable rush in the city among some commuters; it isn’t overspeeding entirely just the wild temptation to overtake bikes/vehicles ahead of them.
Circumstances like this pave way for incidents that sometimes get on your nerves. But this incident was just as funny as it was dangerous.
A scooterist was riding towards Rhino point when near the gate of the Human Rights Commission he decides to hurriedly overtake this SJ team member who was on his bike cruising ahead of him.
Caught unawares that there was a rope attached to a traffic cone along the road divider, this scooterist drags the rope and with it the cone and whatever else was attached to that rope.
Instead of stopping to avoid possible injuries, he continued to go forward while frantically attempting to untangle himself.
Although the incident did not result in anything unfortunate, onlookers were appalled to watch the episode unfurl.
At Rhino point, which is till where this scooterist dragged the rope and the barricade, a traffic policeman was present who was himself shocked at what was happening before his eyes.
Before the cop got a chance to act, the scooterist slipped past the traffic and disappeared. After it all ended, some drivers could be seen laughing at the incident while the cop stood looking with a poker face.
Many a times, these traffic cones and other objects placed to direct traffic are often displaced, both voluntarily and involuntarily. When will it stop?
A change for better
Around the city, across different popular locations, the fast-food and street-food experience of Shillongites is changing. How, you ask? The answer is digitisation of payments!
These days, if one stops to savour fast or street foods across town, one notices QR codes pasted on food carts and stalls. Yes, your pani puri guy next door has upgraded his payment options, and we cannot thank him enough for it.
Be it the egg roll stalls, golgappa joints or the favoured aloo muri sellers, online transactions in lieu of cash payments have come to the rescue of many a distressed foodie.
Only recently, an SJ team member was strolling around Ward’s Lake when the aroma of hot fried egg rolls attracted her towards a stall.
However, as she was about to walk away, citing ‘‘no cash’’ to herself in her mind, she surprisingly discovered a rectangular QR code pasted on one of the stall’s polls.
She ended up eating a perfectly delicious roll and could make a GPay transaction subsequently. As she asked the seller what encouraged him to include the much-appreciated online payment option in his business, he said, “Not just me, but a lot of my friends have done this, to attract more customers. It helps not just us, as sellers, but young people like you.”
He then cast a smile and said, “We too have come across the ad, didi. Google Pay har jagah chalta hai!”