The Trauma
Such a beautiful day it was, my soul was indulging on two-wheels (four wheels
merely move body). I wasn’t diving the ocean of unanswered mysteries nor was I
thinking about the purpose of life and the adequacy of big bang theory. I was
conscious, awake and experiencing an electro-chemically balanced brain. All of a
sudden; I received an unsolicited gift of painful free-hug from a newly
engineered specie in automotive, a cross breed between motorcycle and rickshaw.
Guessed right, I was hit by a fast-moving Chingchi.
“Honey, you got to slow down
Baby, You're much too fast”
- Little Red Corvette by Prince
Being an ordinary object in space, time and pollution; I abide laws of physics
and embraced the gravitational pull of mother earth. My sunglasses broke down
but fortunately none of the bones. Besides knowing that travel is the main cause
of accidents, I ignored the fact, got up and continued again after Elvis left
the building.
“Well, I'm so tired of crying
but I'm out on the road again”
- On the Road Again by Canned Heat
I assume two bitter causes saluting proudly to the Socratic Law of Causality
which led the action of that accident:
1st – the Chingchi didn’t have any back mirrors. Yet, its costly over decoration
was well qualified to make any narcissist bride jealous of its glamour.
2nd – the Chingchi driver was quite young to drive with scanty sense of traffic
and safety.
“I'm gonna ride around in style,
I'm gonna drive everybody wild”
- One Piece at a Time by Johnny Cash
The Evolution
The disorganized, chaotic and haphazard traffic of the limitless and ever
expanding metropolitan city of Karachi, coupled with the increasing demand for
sufficient public transport are the most potent ingredients that formulated the
evolution of Chingchi from Rickshaw. Unfortunately, I don’t see any material
advancement in this specie as compared to its earlier form i.e. Rickshaw because
Chingchi adopted our existing traffic-ecosystem and less than few positive
mutations occurred in this mechanical evolution to support its continued
survival, let alone the real benefit of our public transport system.
“I'll do what I want but irresponsibly
It's evolution, baby”
- Do the Evolution by Pearl Jam
The Failure
The Chingchi didn’t cut the mustard and is apparently an inadvertent increase in
number of public transport vehicles and in its current state embraced with
following misfits, I see in it Richard Hughes’s “Woman in Red”:
l Most of the local Juan Fangio rocketing Chingchis are usually teenagers or
even younger. They can’t get driving license due to age limitation or even if
they could, they wouldn’t have bothered themselves with such nonsense. Indeed,
it’s really nonsense to invest years in learning proper driving and road
etiquettes rather than paying few bucks to the merciful and supportive traffic
police officer. These drivers are just thrown prematurely into the
socio-economic mill, so expect nothing but a careless driver threatening the
lives of other homo-sapiens on the road.
“Rider on the storm,
Killer on the road”
- Riders on the Storm by The Doors.
l Chingchi is not safe for commute or routine travelling. It easily loses road
grip, specially when over-loaded with cheaper commodity of third world markets -
the common man. When an emergency or sharp turn (the beloved adventure of a
Chingchi driver) is taken by Valentino Rossi; it dances frenziedly, stumbles
frenetically and starts playing in the mud.
“But he's driving and striving and hugging the turns
And thinking of someone for whom he still burns”
- The Distance by Cake
l Most of the roadside turns near busy routes have been invaded and colonised
into self-proclaimed Chingchi stops. This traffic-police-assisted invasion of
road space has become a commuter’s nightmare.
“Come, come in, invade all you see of us
Any man, who'd walk your road is welcomed here”
- Invade by Watermark
The Hope
I don’t want to put wool over your eyes but sanity whispers in my ear that
Chingchi has created jobs for many poor people and is a better and easy option
for thousands as compared to mobile graves, call it Mini Bus if you like. Ah,
the foremost thing; Chingchi is smoking free, Cheer-up hotboxes!
“You can't go on
Who's gonna drive you home tonight”
- Drive by The Cars
And of-course, the stubborn and careless driving attitude glorified with lack of
awareness to road safety is not particular to only Chingchi drivers but a
generic and noble characteristic of our pompous nation as a whole.
“They see me rolling
They hating, patrolling and trying to catch me riding dirty”
- Ridin’ by Chamillionaire
So, I am not in favor of Operation Northwoods; instead a safer and more
regulated Three Wheel Adventure would be a better deal in a society with
shortage of public transport. For the sake of it, dedicated Chingchi stops
should be made at places apart from busy traffic passages and the traffic
authorities should take actions against underage drivers, overloading and
related violations. Well, it can be easier said than done but it’s equally not
wise to let sleeping dogs lie. After all, I believe, we all are in a tunnel of
hope and as they say, “there is always light at the end of the tunnel - if there
isn't, it's not a tunnel.
“Life's like a road that you travel on
When there's one day here and the next day gone”
- Life is Like a Highway by Chris Ledoux