Nightmare on Pindi roads

Rawalpindi: Coming back to Rawalpindi city after 50 years shocked me. The place had changed. No more was it a small city. Cars have replaced tongas (ghora gaari). Tonga reminds me of the old city of Rawalpindi when I used to study here and travel on tonga on the Saidpur Road from Pindora Chungi up to Banni.

“If I were pregnant, I would surely have a miscarriage, is the thought that I have every day when I am in my car on Rawalpindi roads. The bumps and potholes on the road jiggle my fat enough that I never feel the need for exercise,” says Maryam Hussain.

“I believe from the depths of my heart that you should not use bad language for people; that when someone else yells at you, you should ignore it, and just move on. Oh did I do differently! After two days of riding my scooter and dealing with the traffic, I swore at every person who tried to overtake me, came too close to my bike, or honked at me when there was a red signal,” says Hanif Najafi.

“I used to diligently stand and wait for the traffic signals to change and allow me to move forward. But, when one gentleman in a car or bike actually tried to use his bumper to nudge me forward, I realized that you have to break some traffic rules to conform to society’s rules,” says Mureed Hussain. “We can learn a huge lesson from this. While we change our values to conform to society, we can also change society’s values to conform to us,” says Ahsen Abbas.

“Responsibility comes with a wisdom. I have now learned to plan my ride home in such a way that I can do all my shopping on route. This did not come about because of any of those well-written time management books. It was actually a result of trying to avoid all those one-ways and certain pot-holed filled, broken, and cracked roads,” says Faiq Ali.

“The journey on the road makes you smart, teaches you to deal with bullies, keeps you alert all the time, and shows you that when you sing at the hardest of times, they start dancing to your tune,” says Waqar Hasan.“Every night, when I leave the office and head homeward, the shiny headlights of the cars and hoardings hit my eyes and try to dampen my resolution to go home.

That is my mission. To beat the traffic. It is my goal to reach home and by God, I do,” says Shahid Naqvi. Jamil Zaidi says, “I always feel frustrated when on the road, I stop by a traffic jam on a congested evening, but I do not lose heart because I Know I have just one more mile to go before I reach home.”