Traffic Woes

Each city has it's own traffic woes. I've driven in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, and have had the misfortune of having seen the traffic in Chennai and Calcutta. I believe the true test of the "drivability" in a city is to try to drive during office going hours.

 

Let me start with the Delhi traffic. The Delhi traffic, seems the most organised, not because of the ability of the people driving, but because of the wide and pot-hole-less roads. However, people on a whole do not have the sense to drive, and considering the wide roads of Delhi, if people used a little more sense in their driving, the traffic of Delhi could be top notch. I think the biggest problem with the traffic in Delhi is the "road-rage". It is so bad, that it has led the media to coin a new term, i.e., road-rage.

 

The Mumbai traffic is far worse than the Delhi traffic. The roads of Mumbai however, are in a far worse condition, mainly due to the ferocious rainy season. It is quite a majour headache getting from one place to another during office hours in Mumbai, especially in the rainy season. The people, however, are far more controlled than in Delhi.

 

The Bangalore traffic is by far the worst in the country. The people are immature and senseless while driving. Of course the narrow roads, polka-dotted with man-hole size pot-holes does not help the cause. This is the only city I have seen in which there could be a true traffic jam, where a car could be stuck for an hour without moving an inch. People who want to turn right, do so from the extremely left lane; people who want to turn left, do so from the extreme right lane.

 

I think the steps taken in Delhi should be used as an example for other cities. There was a time in Delhi when right turns were blocked on the main roads, thus smoothening out the traffic. The spiringing up of numerous flyovers all over Delhi has also helped ease the traffic situation there. If only people would be calm on the roads, Delhi would be close to heaven to drive in.

 

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 (Pensive)

Nintendo Wii

We became proud owners of a brand new Nintendo Wii (a leader in the seventh generation of home consoles), when our friends in the U.S. decided to gift us one. What a fabulous gift it turned out to be.

 

The most distinguishing feature of the Nintendo Wii is the wireless remote which can double up as a tennis raquet, a baseball bat, a golf club, a bowling ball, a boxing glove, a billards cue, a fishing stick, a gun, and even a table tennis racquet (I could have gone on and on, but due to a paucity of time of the reader, I have kept the list short!)

 

Let me take a simple example of Golf. In the golf game, one uses the Wii remote as a golf club (one can change the club style, i.e., driver, iron, wedge, putter) and standing in the stance as if one was actually on the golf course, swing the wii remote to hit the ball down the fairway. Putting is more difficult, as one needs to control the power of the putting.

 

Thanks to the Wii, I can play my favourite sports, and in my favourite place, HOME! I can have my daily exercise without going to the gym. Just play the boxing game, and that is more than enough exercise for one day. The Wii also has a training center, in which one can take part in some training exercises to help in increasing accuracy, stamina and balance. There is also a "Wii fitness age" section in which the Wii will challenge you to some tasks and depending on the gamers capability to take up those challenges (one challenge is to hit as many home runs with just 10 throws of the ball) the Wii will calculate the gamers fitness age on three criteria, i.e., balance, speed and stamina. The fitness age would be between 20 and 80. I took my first fitness age test yesterday and got a rating of 31!!

 

The Wii will definitely bring about a revolution in gaming, making game playing more realistic and a wholistic experience.

 

I'm off to improve my Wii Fitness Age!

 

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 (Pumped up)