Caught in the snarl
The city lived through every Shillongite’s worst nightmare when a fire on Thana Road set off a traffic mess that was like a permanent parking lot. Vehicles turned into fancy lawn ornaments, incapable of any forward motion. Kind-hearted warning messages did their rounds in our convenient group chats, begging people not to venture out if they fancied avoiding a first-row seat in the gridlock circus.
But hey, health issues and sudden medical emergencies aren’t polite enough to RSVP.
That’s why we found an ambulance in the middle of the muddle at Barik Point. The policemen struggled to find a way out for the emergency vehicle to pass through. Sure, offices can chill for a bit, and schools can forgive the occasional truancy. But what happens when a life hangs in the balance?
It’s about time we roll out the carpet for exclusive lanes, fit for emergency services, don’t you think? Shillong, where’s your cape when we need it the most?
***
An ambulance stranded is unfair, of course, but what was a beeline of two-wheelers doing on the footpath? Strangely, the pedestrians and the motorists were sharing the space like it’s not bizarre at all.
These were scenes from the road between the Civil Hospital and Rhino Point.
The road was swarming with vehicles; one could almost draw parallels with apocalyptic scenes from the movies.
Vexatious as it was, the gridlock could’ve moved although at a snail’s pace if the two-wheelers didn’t rally one after another blocking the way for the vehicles advancing towards Civil Hospital.
An unimpressed motorist, who somehow managed to make it out of the huddle, went bonkers: “Common sense nahi hai kya! (Don’t you have common sense?)”
“If you let the bus move, only then you can reach anywhere. Be on your respective lane, otherwise remain stuck!” he shouted.
All his perceptive speech did was make a few heads turn. The incorrigible motorists stood their ground as some made a U-turn to take detours.