I wish we have traffic signals where cut-out cats pop-up on the road. No more plain red lights. Let me explain.
To anyone who has travelled on Indian roads, this should be pretty obvious; to others, it might sound fatally amusing. One thing that vehicle drivers in India seem inherently incapable of doing is stopping before the white lines drawn at traffic signals (that is if they decide to stop in the first place).
Thankfully, there is ONE thing that can stop almost all of them: cats. A cat crossing ones path is considered inauspicious (to put it mildly) and Indians would do anything to avoid being crossed thus! A larger animal's cut-out; a cow's for instance, would have been eminently more visible, but that would not have served the purpose since the holy cows are considered very much a part of the road ecosystem and people are adept at swerving right past them.
Note: No animals were harmed or intended to be harmed for this post. The cut-outs could very well be made of indestructible silicon, latex and fibreglass sheets.
The 'I wish' series will be short posts highlighting simple, interesting, innovative and useful twists to daily random routines and objects.
To anyone who has travelled on Indian roads, this should be pretty obvious; to others, it might sound fatally amusing. One thing that vehicle drivers in India seem inherently incapable of doing is stopping before the white lines drawn at traffic signals (that is if they decide to stop in the first place).
Thankfully, there is ONE thing that can stop almost all of them: cats. A cat crossing ones path is considered inauspicious (to put it mildly) and Indians would do anything to avoid being crossed thus! A larger animal's cut-out; a cow's for instance, would have been eminently more visible, but that would not have served the purpose since the holy cows are considered very much a part of the road ecosystem and people are adept at swerving right past them.
Note: No animals were harmed or intended to be harmed for this post. The cut-outs could very well be made of indestructible silicon, latex and fibreglass sheets.
The 'I wish' series will be short posts highlighting simple, interesting, innovative and useful twists to daily random routines and objects.
