Crossing a busy road is one of the toughest outdoor acts in India. No one, but no one, honours the objective of the zebra crossing and stops short of them to let pedestrians pass.
It is a rare sight to find vehicles actually parked behind the zebra crossing at traffic signals. To see a moving car actually stop at one is well-nigh impossible.
A radio jockey from Red FM Kolkata has come up with a partial solution to make lives easier (though not really) for pedestrians. His method is to ignore cars and bikes parked on a zebra crossing if they are in his way.
Yes, he literally climbs right over the bonnets of cars, or over the seats of motorbikes and scooters, even on the roof of a tempo, to cross the road. His method is unusual, certainly, and far from foolproof or even guaranteed to be effective. It is also impossoble to execute for most people.
Still, his exploits, carefully filmed, make a point. And it’s satisfying to watch all the drivers abashedly reverse their vehicles. It is, of course, a publicity exercise for a radio channel, but an effective one.
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