When Paris Hilton is off the road

"I do not expect to be treated better than anyone else who violated probation. However, my hope is that I will not be treated worse," says Paris Hilton, as quoted by TIME magazine.

What a pity that some countries take their driving norms seriously and send people to jail for driving on a suspended licence during probation.

All that such people need to do is take a flight to India, where people are never ever penalised for the way they drive or cause accidents due to their rash and negligent behaviour. Why driving norms, in this land of holy cows, the holiest cow is the motor car! Next only in importance is the motorised two-wheeler. If you have one, you can violate all rules, starting with red lights.

What a shame that Paris has to wear an orange jumpsuit and spend time in jail, when her daddy has kept a fortune for her. India chalo bhai! Here is where you enjoy life, with S Class Mercedeses, Audis, BMWs, Honda SUVs, Toyota Camrys and many more machines all zipping through shanty towns, on dusty roads lined with open toilets.

And if you are Paris Hilton at the wheel, you can get prime time attention on all our fantastic news television channels that are desperate for celebrity sound bites. If you are caught DUI, you just fork out ten notes to the cop team and they will give you a salute. If you are too drunk to notice people and end up killing someone, just raise your compensation package a little. But never, ever, will you go to jail for such silly reasons.

"East is East and West is West. Never the twain shall meet"

Hit and run and Chennai's 'helpless' police?

Today's report in The Hindu gives the impression that there is little that the Chennai City Traffic Police can do to record evidence about motorists who cause accidents due to sheer arrogance.

The explanation of the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) is on shaky ground for the following reasons:

Technology is available to record evidence on the road in the form of CCTV systems, and one such system has indeed been put up at Spencer's Junction, Anna Salai. If it is not working, the police have only themselves to blame.

The Chennai Police now have 100 more vehicles at their disposal, thanks to the largesse from Hyundai Motor (though this donation, in my view, is unacceptable and totally unethical due to conflict of interest questions). So what is the Police using these vehicles for? Note my earlier posts about fatal accidents early in the morning because no policemen are present and commercial and transport department vehicle drivers couldn't care less about traffic signals.

The Police in Chennai and elsewhere is forever trying to convince the public that it is helpless and unable to perform in a civilised manner because others are not helping it to. In my view, it should stop whining and get down to work.

Tailpiece: It is an amusing thing that the Tamil Nadu government is an absolute ignoramus when it comes to Information Technology. The Government's website puts out a news item from the New Indian Express that claims Chennai City Traffic Police to have launched a website to tackle what is officially termed "traffic chaos." There is a hyperlink in the report to this site: www.cctp.org. Click on it and you get a surprise! It goes to some domain salesman, rather than any useful page from the Police. No wonder the hit-and-run drivers are laughing at the vulgarly muscular and uncouth CCTP.

Harvard economist Greg Mankiw talks about walking

In his blog post today, Harvard economist and popular blogger Greg Mankiw advises students to walk, in the face of some evidence published by the NY Times that bicycle helmets may put you at risk.

But how easy is it to walk in faraway Chennai?

Take a look at the picture below for the answer. It was taken in Chintadripet, Chennai, on the perimeter of the Napier or May Day Park.



What you see is a power cable running across a footpath (or sidewalk, as in the US) that is the size of a ribbon. This power cable is good enough to fry you to a crisp, if it leaks at any point, and remember that these are rainy days in Chennai, India.

Despite intensive research on Chennai's public health (including an ongoing study by the Harvard School of Public Health), this is the state of affairs in general. In Chennai, everything is fraught with risks. Including your car, as the incident involving three men in a Hyundai Santro proved on October 28.