http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/iphone/showpage.aspx?issue=89332014102400000000001001&page=5&returnUrl=http%253a%252f%252fpaper.hindustantimes.com%252fepaper%252fiphone%252fhomepage.aspx%2523_title89332014102400000000001001%252fwatitle89332014102400000000001001%252f8933%252f89332014102400000000001001%252f5%252ftrue&x=-0.4662379421221865&y=-0.19305856832971802
10/24/2014
Hindustan Times e-Paper
SKAND SHUKLA The
writer is an officer of the education services of UP. He is currently on
training at the Arizona
State University,
USA. The views expressed by the author are personal.
10/24/2014
Hindustan Times e-Paper
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
2/3
The Arizona shock — mixing memory with
desire
And we thought
that we were on visit to the most advanced countries in the world! The campus
shocked us. Yes true, before the beginning of our training at the largest
public University of the USA - the Arizona University- we had been given an
orientation on the culture shock we could feel because of our first encounter
with an unfamiliar way of life here. But then, that was all about clothes and
manners and language. They hadn’t prepared us for this - something that would
make us feel so uncomfortable as Eliot in The
Waste Land described: ‘…mixing/Memory and desire…’. How can one feel
otherwise when all one could see around were clean, empty roads with walkers
and cyclists? No bikes, no SUVs in the most progressive country? Instead,
exclusive walk zones and cycle lanes lining every street? And on top of it, our
shocking experience of the ‘right of way to pedestrians’ rule. It prescribes
that all motorists must stop when pedestrians are anywhere on their side of the
road or even if they’re approaching and within one lane of the driver’s side of
the road. Hey, the most amazing part of these rules is that they are really
followed in all earnestness here. Cycles of various hues could be seen all
around the city, and voila, cycle stands too —- all in perfect condition —
actually being used.
In
fact, even the city buses here have provision to carry one’s bicycles if a
cyclist wants to take a bus ride. And you know what? The police department has
a website on which the cycles are to be registered. Our policemen would die
laughing if someone goes to them to register an FIR for a stolen cycle.
Students, both boys and girls whizzed past on their skate boards as skillfully
as circus people. There are skateboard stands too outside department buildings,
cafes, restaurants and stores where people could lock their boards safely. It is
quite a sight — boys and girls riding on their boards speedily, even jumping a
few stairs if they came in the way, maneuvering their through groups of people
without decreasing an iota of speed and, where required, stopping all at once,
picking the board up in one hand and just walking away, in one swift action before
one could even bat one’s eyelid!!
The
huge courtyards and other such spaces are covered by large solar panels, acting
not only as sunshades but also producing electricity. In fact, many open spaces
have been converted into spots like cycle stands and open-air food joints by
providing sun shades with these solar panels. Buses carry people from the campus
to the city through the day and late in the evening, free of cost and,
surprisingly free of ear splitting horns. Even the busiest traffic crossing has
no police personnel to control it, the signals and the law abiding citizenry
are enough.
It
was a shock because it transported me to my city of Allahabad of about 30 years
back.
The predominant
modes of travel in the city then were walking and the humble bicycle. One could
find cycle stands at market places and at government offices. These were rings
of iron in which the front wheel of the cycle would be placed and rested. The
university ran a couple of buses for the girl students. Roads seemed wide and
clear and we could walk or cycle casually.
The 100 cc bike
invasion was yet to happen and make life miserable on the roads. In those
times, kids passing their high school exams with good marks were not given
motorbikes by their parents. The 90s with its market liberalization introduced
cars and massive SUVs. And what did our town planners do to manage this
traffic? They broadened the roads by ingeniously extending them over the
pavements and leaving no space for the pedestrians and the cyclists.
It
was great fun and exercise going to school and all other places on our
bicycles. I wonder if our children could ever have that fun cycling to school.
Sadly, with the state of things, perhaps they never will. They will be having
all their cycling and playing limited to the 25-metre stretch of the street in
front of our house till they get big enough to demand the street monster- the
motorbike- giving us that anxiety which only a parent can feel when the kids are
out on these murderous roads.
