Pass with caution!

Menace \Men”ace\, v. i.
To act in threatening manner; to wear a threatening aspect.
[1913 Webster]

I am resorting to the Webster dictionary just to recheck the meaning of the word and mope about this growing menace on the roads of India’s capital. I am sure the problem is just as bad in other towns and cities that litter the Indian sub-continent.

The pictures show what I mean. The three wheeler ahead of the Alto is moving in the fast lane at speed of less than 20kmph in a speed zone which allows 50kmph to light vehicles. Now to clear this slow moving traffic all will have to slow down and move to “wrong” left lane and overtake. Okay so you may say that there is a motorcycle in the left lane so maybe the Three wheeler is not able to over take. In fact the motorcyclist was doing the just the juggling act I described – over taking from left.

Okay so watch the two pictures taken on a four lane high speed link expressway this joker is traveling at 30kmph in a 80kmph zone!! Over taking traffic is splitting left and right. And note the congestion this is creating – four cars on right – with his odd driving style. Any where in this world would have been a punishable offense leading to suspension of license for endangering others.

Why three wheelers do this? I have no clue but can only hazard a guess that this could be a fall out of one odd ball scheme thought up by some babu called “Bus Lane”. The left most lane is treated as bus lane to cater exclusively to public transport system and so these guys sometimes in ages past were asked to leave that space to buses and such but why they still carry on like this?

Okay. Seen the picture link to this outcry? This guy get the cake for now. He is not only blocking the fastest lane but is actually driving on the divider of two lanes. On a four lane express way with speed barely at 20kmph he is the king of the roads. I can post many more instances and pictures from daily commute but how does one go about solving this problem? You got any comments or pictures to share?

Two months back I turned fifty. Even though I would like to say that I do not feel like it or would not like to act like it, the fact remains that I turned fifty. I hate to look myself in mirror and rather remember my self image from younger days but I can not ignore the rounded belly and effects of gravity on the body frame.

For sometimes now my body has been reminding me that I am getting on with years but now that I have turned fifty I suppose I must pause and listen to its voice more carefully. To someone young fifty is ancient and old but on other hand I am still young to those who are seventy plus, as they have twenty, or more, years on me.

So what’s with turning fifty?

Biologically it is considered half way point in ones life, although from all accounts (and google too) the average life span is 80.3 years. Leave it up to statisticians to come up with figures like that 80.3. Leaving aside that 0.3 the half way point was crossed when I turned forty (Being an Indian male the average is less than 67 years so the half way point was even lower!) As if this all was not confusing enough they keep changing this figure every few years.So what is with fifty?

Is it because fifty is nice round figure – quite like my rotund figure? If you enunciate fifty it comes off the tongue like something being spit out. But then so does sixty and ninety also adds a bit of exclamation in enunciation. So whats is with fifty?

Roman numerals are fascinating. I, II, III and then why did they not write IIII but iV? Then X and instead of waiting till C they introduce L to represent fifty. Okay I know the logic of introducing a midway point and just like that the life’s midway point is considered as fifty and as Italians would say with shrug of shoulders “To hell with statistician!” Did you know how romans pronounced fifty? I don’t but while searching for an answer I found a fascinating site at to test your knowledge about roman numerals and another site I found which was even more amusing and challenging. In Italian fifty is Cinquanta but was this same in roman? So what else is with fifty?

At fifty you are “Uncle” to a whole lot of younger people. And that is something I do not like, especially when the better looking half of our species addresses me with that title. At fifty you get the privilege of starting sentences with “When we were young…..” At fifty you have attention out of respect if nothing else from younger lot. At fifty you can ramble on on non topics just like I have here. At fifty you can blow one candle on the cake…fifty of them on cake will spoil it. So what else is with fifty?

At fifty you can not run. I mean you want to but you can not. At fifty you stop to let traffic pass instead of trying to rule the road. At fifty you can not pass of as a smart thirty on the dance floor, you just can not breath in enough air if you try to. At fifty you can not jump with joy lest you break your ankle or leg. So whats with turning fifty?

You tend to ramble when you turn fifty ……