Don’t Pollute, Don’t Commute!

Kolkata wakes up to a less polluted morning everyday. No old vehicles to stain the sacred air. It seems to be an excellent progress! However it is only one side of the coin. And when we flip the coin we find that after all it is not so excellent a development. Office goers, Students, worker and every individual who commutes in public vehicle are the new series of scapegoats! They keep waiting for buses that suddenly have become endangered species! Time passes by and “Godot” does not come. Yes! Buses have become like some indefinite Godot who may or may not come. And common people suffer in the daily agony of hoping against hope. If by sheer luck a bus or two arrive there is maximum chance of not being able to board it, as it already is in a tilted state with human beings hanging like flags near the entrance. A chunk of students have taken to miss their college lectures everyday as they do not get the bus for their route. Office goers are penalized for being late to work. Children are more worried of reaching school in time than exams! The lucky few who manage to squeeze themselves into an overloaded bus later prove to be in a rather critical juncture because the constant battle of finding a bit of ground for the feet and then they find themselves getting choked while attempting to get out of the bus!
We all crave for a green Kolkata. But is this the only means by which our government can provide us a better environment? People are staking their lives in order to board a bus in time. Commuters are waiting impatiently for a bus in the peak hour of the day! Does this show any sign of improvement? This notice of removing 15year old vehicles is not a recent affair. It was known from beforehand. Then why did not our “providers” arrange for new vehicles; why did not they supply new buses. Why? Is the question that remains unanswered in this state! And I know this “why” too would never find an answer. In the mighty city of Kolkata you have to lose in order to gain. Nothing comes free; its recession period after all! “You want freedom from pollution? Then you have to bear with the scarcity of vehicles! Take it or leave it!”- says the holy Oracle! Amen!

(published in The Telegraph Young Metro)