Highway to Hell

I travel via the Pune-Satara Road almost everyday. It starts from Swargate, a bottleneck of a major bus stop and extends to the outer city limits somewhere in Katraj where it miraculously transforms into the Pune-Satara Highway. In between, there are wide stretches of tarmac separated by a single deadly turn (Swami Vivekananda Junction, apparently), and of course the omnipresent potholes here and there.

Pune Satara Road - Before the BRT

There is a signal which takes you to a certain semi-urban area called Dhankawadi. Locals may scroll down to avoid painful reminders of riding in this motorway. To the uninitiated, the Balaji Nagar - Dhankawadi stretch is the most chaotic road in this side of the city. The road itself is narrow due to shop encroachments. People hover around like flies over a carcass giving two hoots about their own lives. But the traffic - ah! There is a certain enigma - an ether if you will - nay a force, oh Jedi, which takes over all drivers and transforms them into.. "Survival Beast Mode"!

Commandments of the Survival Beast Mode

1. Race.
   
2. This is a highway. Fuck the idiots trying to cross the road. Honk, Flash lights, and nearly miss the illiterate fools who litter the road.
3. Thou shalt overtake from whichever side possible.
4. On hitting anyone (which is imminent) - RUN.
   

Of course, Yours truly has had his share of incidents on his trusted steed - but never stooped so low as to fall down in this hell-hole. I have been hit by two scooters (yeah i know, its never the fault of the narrator, but the scoots did hit me). Needless to say those fuck-all machines didn't stand a chance. I didn't stay too long either for a mob to come attack me and my machine.

The thing is, this is a stretch of complete lawlessness. Add to that the presence of a University in the vicinity housing about 10 odd colleges - I've seen my share of accidents as a doc. Everyday.

Recently the brilliant PMC decided to introduce the BRT - Bus Rapid Transit system to the country. And the prototype: none other than the Highway to Hell.
To the uninitiated, the BRT is a separate lane on the road, in the centre, meant exclusively for Public Buses.

This was the brainchild of a special team (corporators) who went to Bogotá and some other places abroad - and considered this the solution to Pune's traffic woes. Narrow down the already small roads and dump more signals on them.

I cannot appear to give an unbiased opinion because there is nothing in this madness. In 2 months more than 4 people have died on the road (due to the BRT; as such it is a death zone as mentioned) and others have died in the adjoining road - including a friend of mine who was run over by a truck plying on a tributary.

Avoiding this main road is out of the question. There is one solution to staying alive in Katraj. Pray.