Car craze

A news item  in a daily caught my eyes today .It read that big cities ( metros & big cities ) are fueling the demand for cars as economy has picked up.Moreover,companies are also offering cars to their employees as sops.So,the growth is nearly 25%.Perhaps,the cars are given to make employees aggressive but it has succeeded in giving vent to aggressiveness only in the form of road rage !

I fail to understand where all this hoopla about owning a car is taking us all ! Maybe towards dooms day ! In our nation,there are hardly any roads but we have cars of all kinds -even Volkswagen has come in ! This all when the world is going green ! The government instead of developing infrastructure is busy giving licenses to all manufacturers to churn out cars .There are many villages which have no roads to connect them to the nearest hospital,school or market but maybe Sarkaar believes that the cars will take the school,the market ,the hospitals & the likes to the villages ! How innovative ! So, we are going mobile & since we are in a hurry ,with a vengeance !

Really,many seem to think,  that without cars nobody believes they have arrived ! In the building wherein I stay,people have two to three cars in a family but they own only one flat.So,the scramble for parking & eventual fights which have become a daily affair now.Many just buy four wheelers to show to the world that they have amassed wealth .For them ,a car is another way of displaying their riches,never mind if it smacks of vulgarity.Moreover,the bigger the vehicle,the larger is the ego or maybe it is the reverse.

The huge demand for four wheelers is also increasing our oil bill many folds.Moreover,a few years hence,there may be no oil left to refuel our  modern toys.We must waste less energy on such useless giants which keep guzzling oil but take us nowhere .With all due respect to the Nano,the crowding on roads will just get worse, as it is a small car.

Parking is a big headache in the metros & big cities are also realising that parking is scarce as more & more vehicles start plying on the roads.Moreover,people on the wheels are commiting accidents left,right & centre without any qualms.They feel that Insurance will bail them out.But who will fund insurance ? We ,the tax paying public will -this is obvious but vehicle owners feel this is fine as non -vehicle owners also are paying for crimes of vehicle owners.As one wag put it ," There is nothing certain in life except death & taxes but that does not mean we have to be taxed to death ." Yes,many people die & are injured  in  accidents on roads but compensation is too meagre & so late that the dependent family is as good as dead.

In India,public transport is bad ,if it exists & non -existent in many places.So for the situation to improve,we as the public, must make out all efforts to introduce public transport in all places.This will help in decongesting  roads,ease traffic & also reduce accidents.It will be less polluting as well.Moreover a good public transport will make people less dependent on cars which will free parking spaces which can be better utilised as land is scarce & too valuable to be wasted for parking .