Parallel lines

I have decided (yet again!!) to write/copy some stuff for this hitherto neglected blog. And it has dawned upon me that I cant write long pieces. So, I will, for the greater good, keep these entries short. Here I go.

Having laid my hands on some books that time and again mention the various facets of various governance options and being habituated to getting stuck in traffic jams every single day, I have drawn some parallels between Traffic and State.

Traffic is symbolic of governance at the ground level ( literally ). And how the traffic moves is synonymous to how a state reacts under certain form of governance. Now there are many XYZ-archies, but the 2 major governance models that instantly come to mind are Capitalism and Socialism (less so).

Traffic is pretty much the same. Either it is policed or random. When the traffic is policed (this is definitely true about Mumbai), altogether avoidable long queues of vehicles are formed. With the policewallah wielding his almost absent grey cells, the result is chaos and inefficiency. And when the masked inspector ( who eerily reminds of pre-1991 Indian government with all its license-inspector(wow!!)-babu raj) is absent, and my friends will vouch for this, there are no jams. You cruise to your destination (if you are not in an auto or a BEST (really??) bus, that is). There are some minor hiccups but on the whole things are pretty smooth. Much like capitalism.

What we need is the traffic police not stopping lorries to fill their pockets rather the vehicles which violate the rules. We don't need the police to tell us where to go when, we just need them to stop people who are not on the right track. Traffic, like capitalism, if left to itself finds the optimal state. People after all are not as stupid as the policewallah think they are. I do not find the words to put it, but I have many a times observed that people manage to drive their vehicles and not create jams when the hawaldars are not present.

I know I was supposed to be drawing parallels but I am sure I at least managed a skew line!!

Cheers and enjoy!! (till I get another topic to write on)