Karachi is going through a big infrastructure overhaul these days. Many roads are dug up for building signal-free corridors. This has shifted traffic load to lesser known roads.
One such route, which is taking the burnt of traffic load is the University Road to daak-khana chowk (post office intersection) Liaquatabad route via Sindhi Hotel. I passed through Liaquatabad daak-khana chowk many times during my 2 week stay in Karachi in January of 2007.Photo to the left shows the satellite image of Liaquatabad daak-khana chowk.
Click on the photo for a larger image.
During these travels through daak-khana chowk I noticed a traffic policeman trying to manage the traffic and failing miserably. Many people obeyed him while others just passed by as if he was not present there. I saw him in the mornings with a smile on the face, in the afternoons with a frown and in the evening he seemed to transform into a totally berserk monster.
One evening I saw him lunging towards a motorcycle with both hands, which was going the wrong way. While motorcycle guy should’ve been cited, I couldn’t believe the actions of this policeman. He had appeared to have gone totally mad. He was waving both hands to traffic, stomping feet and cursing aloud at bus drivers.While most of the people stuck in this traffic were part of a motion and following the instincts of survival of the fittest, I was sitting in the car watching this chaos as a neutral observer none of what I saw appeared normal to me.
It looked like a big mad house of chaotic traffic where everyone wanted to move ahead of others. I was thinking about what lack of discipline has brought us to this sorry state as a nation.The photo to the left shows one of the traffic jam instances at Daak-khana chowk.
Controlling chaotic traffic on Karachi roads is a thankless job. I felt bad for the traffic policeman.
For whole day he had to inhale diesel, petrol and carbon monoxide which I believe also add to one’s mental lack of attentiveness (due to presence of lead particles).Photo to the right shows Daak-khana chowk. Traffic signal is on the road going towards Sindhi Hotel.
If traffic police wants to keep their policemen healthy, they should be provided at the very least with smoke masks.
After few days of passing through daak-khana chowk, I saw another interesting phenomenon. The traffic control at daak-khana chowk was so out of control that a seemingly mentally challenged person jumped in the middle of the intersection and started mimicking the actions of a traffic policeman.
Many people started obeying this man’s orders while the real traffic police constable looked on in amusement.Photo to the left shows a mentally-challenged person mimicking a traffic policeman's actions at Daak-khana chowk. Click on the photo to get a larger image
One afternoon, I was once again sitting in the traffic thinking about who was actually mentally challenged here. The people with unannounced fine mental health and who were openly ignoring traffic signals OR this person with a certified mental problem who had volunteered to make some sense out of the chaos at daak-khana chowk and trying to make people obey traffic rules. By the way, few days ago this traffic volunteer was reported in Dawn.
A video from a Karachi Traffic Jam chaos can be seen here.
