Hi folks,
JANYA...???.... Before your thoughts gather momentum, I would like to clarify that 'Janya' here is not the magical music composer Arjun Janya of the Sandalwood fame, but its literal meaning 'life'. And, Jedimara Tri-Junction, perhaps one of the top ten heavy traffic junctions in Bangalore is located on the Outer Ring Road, ahead of Jayadeva Hospital hissing one way to Bannerghatta and the other towards JP Nagar.
One thing about Bangalore, which everyone loves to hate and which invariably crops up in any forum or discussion is the awful city traffic. The unseasonal outbursts of the Rain-God and the ever widening pot-holes on these roads only add spice to these discussions.
If you have time at hand and a will to discover something new every time you hit the road, the journey can be differently refreshing. The different sounds of musical horns of different vehicles whenever the traffic signals turn green can help create new tunes to your favourite Bollywood numbers. A conscientious numerologist can easily do a quick analysis of any number plate around and predict the future of its occupants. A moto-enthusiast can relish the sight of different makes & models of vehicles he is surrounded with. You will also often be enthralled by the acrobatic skills of some motorcyclists trying to impress the lady-love hugging tightly behind them.
This time however, I was witness to a different slice of life at this Jedimara Junction altogether.
Located about six km away from the Jedimara junction, that cloudy evening, it took me an agonising eighty minutes to cover those few km to the junction. Unluckily, just while slipping out of the jammed junction, the signal turned red. As I turned off the engine and released the pressure off my thighs, I could see a large number of perspiring pedestrians hurriedly cross the road. In this melee of moving mass of mankind, one particularly harried old woman grabbed my attention. This heavily wrinkled villager in a crumpled cotton 'Ilkal' saree worn in a typical dhoti like North Karnataka/Maharashtra style, looked scared worried and confused all at the same time. She, holding two black coloured polythene bags less than 25 microns thickness struggled to keep their contents together, while struggling to reach the other side of the road. It didn't need a stroke of genius to say she was new to Bangalore, but I did feel this might have been her another worrisome effort to cross the road after a few failed attempts during the earlier signal change-overs.
As I kept my gaze focussed on the poor old lady with amusement, suddenly what did I see...!!! A teenaged boy, carrying an umbrella and lost in his own thoughts, was hurriedly crossing the road. In the hustle and bustle of the rush around, he inadvertently pierced that thin polythene bag with it. Potatoes and onions came tumbling down and rolled all over the road. The boy, puzzled and scared at the turn of events, sneaked off the road in a zippy. Sadly, the lady, already harried, became inconsolable. Blaming her fate, putting her hands up and murmuring some inaudible expletives, her eyes swelled and body shivered. Buta gathering her wits, oblivious of both, her surroundings and the impatient traffic she was holding to ransom, she started picking her potatoes and onions. I did feel a sense of pity and compassion for the lady. But then,...... even before I could muster my brittle thoughts together, the two motorcyclist youngsters waiting next to me, quickly got off, parked their bikes and started helping the lady pick her potatoes and onions. The pillion girl without second thoughts, emptied her posh looking carrybag into the backpack of her biker beau and helped put all those potatoes and onions in it. Hey... GIG.. (God Is Great).., to my pleasant surprise, despite the traffic signal turning green, all the front row motorists on either side of the signal, for once, waited patiently till these good samaritans smilingly handed over the carrybag to the lady and returned to their bikes. While the gratified woman blessed these kids from the bottom of her heart, our hearts too swelled witnessing this slice of life.
For once, humanity had won over the traffic signals and onions and potatoes (read.. the poor and the under-preveleged) were saved from getting crushed under the heartless wheels of ruthless motorists. Although impulsively I felt like meeting the old lady, but practicality and pressure of work prevailed.
As I crossed the Jedimara at the next signal change, felt, Jedimara would have some nice stories also to tell its grand children while talking about its multi chequered existence at this junction.
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✍️✍️satishdeshpande✍️
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