What-what-has-to-happenO-happenE-HappenU

5.30AM: Woke up from some side of the bed ;) not that i have two sides, just that I decide to put my head in different directions.

5.45AM: Ghaaannnnnn... Ghaaannnnnn... Ghaaannnnnn... Ghaaannnnnn... That's how my alarm sounds! And its titled 'swimming time'.

7.30AM: It's time for my glassful of Boost after the tiring swimming class.

8.45AM: After flipping through 'The Hindu' I am all ready and geared up for the important day ahead.

9AM: I'm on my Royal Enfield all ready, and thumping to go. (You see with a Royal Enfield, its never raring to go, it's always thumping to go)

9.45AM: 9 kms hence, almost close to Silk board, and snap goes the accelerator wire of my Enfield. And when it did, i suddenly ceased to move, and a fellow biker, couldn't be patient enough or be empathetic and thought he could chug along not withstanding my little finger on the leg. After successfully showing my middle finger on the hand to him, i started retracing back towards the interior areas around silk board. The quest was for a mechanic who could replace the accelerator cable. The push must've helped me loose some 500 calories easily before i could find a garage and he asked me to fetch a new cable. I parked my bike and started my quest, walking for around 40 mins up and down to the garage losing 200 more calories, thanks to the laptop bag I'm equipped with.

11AM: The bike roars yet again, thanks to the sweat and blood of the mechanic, no really. Poor guy peeled of his hands while tightening the screws or doing something similar.

11.15AM: Finally reached the client location, all geared up for the much important meeting scheduled later in the day.

11.30AM: While the wait was on for the client to escort me in, it was now time for something more to go wrong. This time it were the stitches on the pant, and it was a No-Go situation. Gearing up all the situation readiness skills, bought some time from the client escort, went back on my way and landed up in Big Bazaar express.

12 PM: Who'd have thought of landing up in Big bazaar at this time of the day, unless it was one of those 'sabse-sasta-din' or whatever names they call it with, quickly picked up an other pant, wore it, paid for it and back i was at the client place again.

Rest of the day, well after so much that didn't go per plan, it wouldn't have been much of a surprise if the rest of the day didn't go well too, but then it did.

All through the day I displayed an unknown sense of patience and calm and realized, sometimes its best to leave things to unfold for you, because What-what-has-to-happenO-happenE-Happenu.

Make way for the Emergency vehicle: But how?

How many times have we all suddenly heard the hooting of an ambulance/emergency vehicle out of nowhere? And as if this incident has the influence of Murphian laws, it happens mostly during the peak hour traffic. I have noticed this consistently for the last four days in Bangalore and my first reaction has always been to make way. But then, we are in Bangalore, where footpaths are considered as an alternative option to roads anytime they are all full. 

So while I want to make way, I'm helpless and so are thousands of others. At this point of time, I always end up thinking about what should be done:

• What would be the options?
• Whether these options are something which is commonly known to everyone on the road with or without a vehicle? 
• Can technology be used in traffic signals like in few western countries. I don't think this will be a viable option considering our traffic sense and maturity.

While I can think of many more questions, I might just miss the point. How do we MAKE WAY ???

From having personally been in the traffic of Bangalore from the past 10 or so years, I can think of these must-do's.

1. Try to move towards left or right corner depending on where the emergency vehicle is.
2. Try passing on the message to the drivers who are ahead in line and ask them to cascade. This is specific in cases of long traffic jams like we have in bangalore.
3. Most often the emergency vehicles take the one-way's. So always be vigilant in such times.
4. Finally Do whatever possible in your capacity to make way for these vehicles.

Just before i post this I also wanted to check out what people think about this on the internet. On Yahoo Answers this was the best answer to the question asked by the asker. 

The law in the US is that all drivers must yield to emergency vehicles by getting out of the way and slowing or stopping in order to allow others in front or behind to follow suit.

On a regular road a driver shouldn't be an obstruction whether moving or not if they are out of the vehicle's path of travel. Oftentimes in heavy traffic, everyone can be limited by space to move to. This leaves the driver having to negotiate around vehicles in order to get through. Presumably, in heavily congested areas, if everyone moves a little over where they can and pays attention to where the path of travel is forming, they can get out of the way, but everyone following the law is required. Dolts who pay no attention to their surroundings and don't hear the siren are in my mind, the worst. They refuse to move out of the way and will block up a vehicle's only means of travel.

At an intersection or stop lights, its the same rule; get out of the way as much as possible, even if its just a few feet, or if you can, move to an area where you can, but be mindful that moving into an intersection could spell confusion once the emergency vehicle has passed and everyone begins to move again. Small moves over to the left or right are the best solution, if that's all you can do. 

When everyone is paying attention and cooperates, emergency vehicles should be able to have safe egress through traffic.

Make Way Please ! And NOW !!!