A Salute !!

Bangalore – the city that has never ceased to amaze me. It took me 2 years to finally rezendezvous back here. Things have changed but many still remains the same. As mumbaikars go on and sing laurels about the fact that people don’t have time to care for each other, namma bengaluru still has somehow been able to maintain a sweet nonchalance of a small town inspite of the burgeoning metropolis that it has become.

Last Friday night, an incident happened that just left this impression in my mind.

At the sony world signal on my way back from office at around 1 in the night, traffic stood at a standstill. BPO workers, software professionals all in their haste to reach home had made a mess of an all-open signal with the saffron lights flashing. As everyone including me looked for the fastest way out, one lone ford ikon pulled to the curb. A bright young man got out, Bluetooth in his ears, and headed to the middle of the signal. I could bet he was maybe a manager or a senior person in some of the MNC’s around.

Single handedly, he controlled traffic with hand signals and in a matter of minutes , the whole mess was cleared. I thought he would clear way for his line of traffic first and speed of in the car. To my surprise, he waited until the whole jam was cleared, paved way for the traffic in order of the number of vehicles stuck in each direction and made sure the free flow of vehicles in the junction was restored. As I stood nearby on the phone, unwilling to accept my lack of interest in helping the situation, I couldn’t but help salute the man for his spirit.

Namma Bangalore in all these years has come back to me to teach me new things. I always guffawed and dismissed that people are passionate about the city here. Today it stood to prove its point. I guess, it was always on us to make a change. This effort was small but it has left a lasting impact on my mind.

Spare a moment to think about this !!