You can’t miss the awkwardly positioned, and displayed, signs, and if you do miss them, then you certainly can’t miss the omnipresent and all pervasive rubble, not to mention the frantic and haphazard construction going on all over Delhi and its environs – otherwise known as the ‘NCR,’ for the rather optimistically named, but undefined, National Capital Region. The last time Delhi saw this sort of frenzy was in the early 80s for the Asian Games. However, the fact remains that there simply weren’t that many people moving all across the city at that time. Today, at the risk of sounding patronising, the energy levels in Delhi, as signified by the sheer volume of movement, is probably higher than anywhere else in the country. In every way, there is an energy in Delhi, which is out there on the roads 24x7.

The Delhi Metro is running to full capacity of around a million riders everyday wherever its tentacles have already reached, as it marches resolutely towards NOIDA, Badarpur and Gurgaon, as well as Ghaziabad and Sonepat. Four coach train-sets, which run packed even during non-peak hours, are expected to grow to six – the only thing keeping this from happening is a shortage of rolling stock. Bus rides are often a pleasure lately, with brand new low-floor buses, air-conditioned as well as non-AC, pelting past on separate bus lanes in some segments, and full with people from all segments of society. And of course, you can’t have enough of the new cars and bikes – with boutique showrooms emerging all over the place like mushrooms after a pleasant drizzle.

Add to that the rash of new roads, and not just on the main linkages either – bringing efficient connectivity to parts of the city that were at one time considered well beyond even the extended borders of the region. The DND from South Delhi to NOIDA, and the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, past the Airport, are already operating at well over capacity. Mathura Road through Faridabad towards Agra is still a mess, but the work will be completed – hopefully. At the other end, North Delhi has seen some amazing re-engineering on the roads heading towards Punjab and Himachal, through Haryana.

But the one big thing that has not changed in and around Delhi, however, is the nature of road users. On the roads, Delhi has probably got some of the rudest and crudest drivers and riders when compared with any other large city in the country. From the paan-spitting bus-driver, who will not start his engine until he’s cursed in half-a-dozen dialects, to the motorcycle rider who has seemingly just taken out an insurance policy on his own life. It appears as though everybody in Delhi is out to define a theory that suggests good roads do not improve human nature. This, incidentally, is across the gene pool, regardless of gender, race, religion or any other parameter.

So, one would have thought that the driving experience in Delhi would benefit from a top-down approach, with opinion makers and those in power rightfully hoping for an improvement, as would be expected in most civilised societies. The truth is, unfortunately, far from it. If anything, the inauguration of good roads and flyovers in and around Delhi seem to announce open-season on pedestrians and cyclists. A prime example is the stretch known as ‘Link Road’ – moving traffic at extremely high speeds non-stop without a traffic light for the ten odd kilometers from Sunder Nagar till Panchsheel, also the first Bus Rapid Transport lane scheme, not to mention the Delhi Metro line along what is known as the Defence Colony stretch. Try crossing the road at any point here, and check out the snarls as masses of pedestrians finally gather the courage to band together and wave traffic to a stop, simply to try to get to the other side to catch a bus.

And then, along comes the Chief Minister of Delhi, delivering homilies on how badly behaved Delhiites are, especially in traffic, while she zips past in a fleet of cars with beacons and sirens, pelting at high speeds, simply discarding other road users – even within apartment blocks and gated communities. How do I know? We all get to know when she visits a gated community in NOIDA – her drivers and escort staff zip along within the premises, and park all over the place, terrorising the maids and little children tri-cycling past, no doubt in a grand effort to improve the driving habits of the rest of the NCR.

And that’s what this column is trying to get across – bad behaviour on the roads by people in India is directly proportional to the number of official vehicles on said roads – going wherever they please at the expense of the public exchequer, exempted from tolls, and often without proper documents. All this, while the rest of us suffer, as those in power treat us like dirt. And so, when our turn comes, we treat the other road users the same way, especially if they have less power than us. This soon pelts downward into a destructive spiral, and then emerges as collective bad behaviour by one and all. And who are the main purveyors of these official vehicles, in and around Delhi?

Here’s a quick shortlist:

• The biggest offenders have to be the blue-licence plate bearing diplomatic vehicles. Taking the whole concept of diplomatic immunity to sublime heights unheard of elsewhere in the world, and with a spineless Delhi Traffic Police unable to figure out what to do, chances are that if you see a large car wrongly parked anywhere in Delhi creating a mess, then it’s a diplomatic vehicle
  
  
• Next in line are the various ‘Government vehicles,’ with their pretty little red lights, the sort we also see in back lanes of Amsterdam and Hamburg. At one time these were largely white Ambassadors and grey Jeeps, but now we also see hired taxies of all sorts
  
  
• Then, cars bearing members, friends and supporters of our elected representatives. Also add here, those who hope to become elected representatives, and those who probably were elected representatives. Often distinguished by loud-speakers mounted on the roof
  
  
• In a separate category are people who have started considering themselves important on the roads. NGOs, media, certain professions who shall remain unnamed, and similar. Very often distinguishable by the sight of long-expired ‘VIP Parking’ stickers on their windscreens

There are many more subsets, but hopefully you get the drift.

So when our Chief Minister, hallowed be thy name, announces that Delhiites have no road sense, we need to stand up as one and tell her – ‘Madam, please work on fixing things with those who ought to lead by example, as opposed to distributing more red roof beacons to all and sundry. Because once the transport system is up and running, this is going to be one fast-moving city, setting an example for the rest of the country, and we don’t want to come up short.’

Especially, with all these lovely new cars and bikes being launched every other day.