Early evening inching towards late evening, Coimbatore, India. The road is mad, the traffic madder, and those creating the traffic, the maddest.
A and P are part of the madding crowd (Not Hardy's or Gray's or even Spencer's). They are part of this very Indian madding crowd this early evening inching towards late evening. A starts the car, P sitting beside her on the front seat, and thinking "Here we go!" She thinks of A as a slightly crazy driver. And now, given that A has settled down in a farm in the Nilgiri hills, a couple of hours from Coimbatore, she simply wants OUT, of any traffic, and back IN her quaint, quiet nestle in the hills. According to P this shows up in her driving. A, might roll her eyes, lower her eyebrows into a frown, wave both her arms about (letting go of the wheel, but just for a moment ok?) and work her mouth into a diatribe, all simultaneously, were she to hear P's opinion of the matter.
The guy in the car from the opposite side chugs right into P's pleasant thoughts. On the wrong side, no less. Right into A's path. She screeches more than her tyres. "What is this? Is this the way to drive? Coming on the wrong side in such a small lane, now where is the place for me to go, just look at that side, there are already vehicles there, I am stuck now."
Wow, this woman can pack a sizeable amount in her suitcase!
The two men in the offending car enjoy the show, their jaws slack, sporting tentative, foolish grins. After squeezing their way out, A stepped on it the moment her car found breathing space. Wow, this woman packs some speed in her engine! And then she says, "What are we talking about decolonising these people. Can they even be colonised in the first place? How he was driving! Was that a colonised mind really? Can they actually be taught anything?"
It got P wondering about decolonising Indian roads. How can our roads be decolonised?
- Are they not a product of colonisation in the first place?
- Can they be transformed back into their mud-track versions, with depressed designs of footprints, hooves and paws?
- Can we have cycles and carts again that rotate their wheels to natural rhythms and elegant heartbeats?
- Can we again enjoy soothing dusky light turning to mysterious shades of grey unhindered by blinding and blazing headlights?
- Can eyes look into eyes rather than at a dusty speck of the destination that they are not even sure of arriving at, at this speed?
- Can we have questions over a sudden leisurely cup of chai or chukku kapi at the popular tea joint, "oh, what happened at your niece's wedding, did you find some suitable boys for your girl?" or "son, what are you planning on doing after your 12th exams?" (Oops! desperate escape attempts called for)
- Can we have gentle souls chewing harmless cud and in no danger of speeding harm?
"OH! No, no, no, no!" You would say. "How is all this possible today? The cows must be in their sheds, dogs in kennels, the sparrows god knows where and people safely boxed into their cars and cubicles. No mixing of sides and spaces. There are neat, modular spaces with doors, and the right side and the wrong side. And let me ask you this: Isn't your cup of chai colonised?"
Nope. Tea originated in China perhaps. There is also the record of the Indian Assam tea.
So? We are looking at what it is today. Where does all the premium, organic, bio-dynamic and fair-trade tea from India go?
Then, one more question but not the last one surely, for decolonising our roads would be:
- Can we have questions without easy answers, but ones for which we may have to take our right hand all around the back of our head to touch the left side of the nose, to even begin to understand them?
Perhaps A is right - people who come on the wrong side of the road are either already decolonised or were never colonised in the first place.
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Claimer - At least one of the persons is caricatured for effect. Creative license I think it is called. But not too much!
A and P are part of the madding crowd (Not Hardy's or Gray's or even Spencer's). They are part of this very Indian madding crowd this early evening inching towards late evening. A starts the car, P sitting beside her on the front seat, and thinking "Here we go!" She thinks of A as a slightly crazy driver. And now, given that A has settled down in a farm in the Nilgiri hills, a couple of hours from Coimbatore, she simply wants OUT, of any traffic, and back IN her quaint, quiet nestle in the hills. According to P this shows up in her driving. A, might roll her eyes, lower her eyebrows into a frown, wave both her arms about (letting go of the wheel, but just for a moment ok?) and work her mouth into a diatribe, all simultaneously, were she to hear P's opinion of the matter.
The guy in the car from the opposite side chugs right into P's pleasant thoughts. On the wrong side, no less. Right into A's path. She screeches more than her tyres. "What is this? Is this the way to drive? Coming on the wrong side in such a small lane, now where is the place for me to go, just look at that side, there are already vehicles there, I am stuck now."
Wow, this woman can pack a sizeable amount in her suitcase!
The two men in the offending car enjoy the show, their jaws slack, sporting tentative, foolish grins. After squeezing their way out, A stepped on it the moment her car found breathing space. Wow, this woman packs some speed in her engine! And then she says, "What are we talking about decolonising these people. Can they even be colonised in the first place? How he was driving! Was that a colonised mind really? Can they actually be taught anything?"
It got P wondering about decolonising Indian roads. How can our roads be decolonised?
- Are they not a product of colonisation in the first place?
- Can they be transformed back into their mud-track versions, with depressed designs of footprints, hooves and paws?
- Can we have cycles and carts again that rotate their wheels to natural rhythms and elegant heartbeats?
- Can we again enjoy soothing dusky light turning to mysterious shades of grey unhindered by blinding and blazing headlights?
- Can eyes look into eyes rather than at a dusty speck of the destination that they are not even sure of arriving at, at this speed?
- Can we have questions over a sudden leisurely cup of chai or chukku kapi at the popular tea joint, "oh, what happened at your niece's wedding, did you find some suitable boys for your girl?" or "son, what are you planning on doing after your 12th exams?" (Oops! desperate escape attempts called for)
- Can we have gentle souls chewing harmless cud and in no danger of speeding harm?
"OH! No, no, no, no!" You would say. "How is all this possible today? The cows must be in their sheds, dogs in kennels, the sparrows god knows where and people safely boxed into their cars and cubicles. No mixing of sides and spaces. There are neat, modular spaces with doors, and the right side and the wrong side. And let me ask you this: Isn't your cup of chai colonised?"
Nope. Tea originated in China perhaps. There is also the record of the Indian Assam tea.
So? We are looking at what it is today. Where does all the premium, organic, bio-dynamic and fair-trade tea from India go?
Then, one more question but not the last one surely, for decolonising our roads would be:
- Can we have questions without easy answers, but ones for which we may have to take our right hand all around the back of our head to touch the left side of the nose, to even begin to understand them?
Perhaps A is right - people who come on the wrong side of the road are either already decolonised or were never colonised in the first place.
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Claimer - At least one of the persons is caricatured for effect. Creative license I think it is called. But not too much!
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