5.

UPHILL AND DOWNHILL

Place: Shillong

Situation: A car from Guwahati taking a wrong turn uphill, which happens to be one way

Reaction: A Khasi man at the wheel of a car from Shillong sticks his head out of the car window and says, “Sir, this is a one way. You have to go round the other way!”

 Place: Guwahati

Situation: A car coming up hill on a two way road.

Reaction: A person driving down the hill swerves dangerously to the right, taking up most of the driving area of the car coming up the hill. This action unnerves the car going uphill and it stops letting the car pass, which whizzes pass without a care in the world, like someone who has just won a war. The car going uphill swings to first gear and goes on its way!

This is a regular feature everywhere in Guwahati. And nobody really knows this etiquette.  In a two-way road going uphill, it is the prerogative of the car going uphill to pass first. The car coming downhill should wait for the car going uphill to pass through.

People staying in the hills know this simple road rule but commuters in the plains are yet to understand and implement this in their road etiquette.

 The reason is clear and simple. A car going uphill faces more tension while having to use the clutches, brakes and a high gear, which altogether proves to be difficult for the car to hold on, while a car going down the road can use the brakes to hold on for the other car to pass.

So, next time, let’s make it a point to be a little courteous and let a car coming uphill pass by without trying to swerve and hit the car. You will ask, “Why should I bother?” And I will say, “Start getting bothered and create a chain of change.”

 

Indrajit Kr. Saikia