Kumar Pratik, February 11, 2013

After being regularly stuck in traffic for hours, days and even months, some bright techies of Bengaluru have come up with a solution. They have decided to use gliders to travel to work.

The idea first came to 25-year-old Chatur Murgadoss after he reached his workplace on time one day last month, but only on the next day: “I left my house at 6 am for my office, merely 15 km away. I reached at 9 am, the exact time my office starts, but it was the next day! I was stuck in traffic for twenty-seven hours.”

Murgadoss first tried to fly with a kite, but fell down flat on his face, which gave him an idea. An idea to fly over the traffic, directly to his office. “The next day I flew to and fro with the help of a glider that I bought online,” he said. “And I have been doing so for the last three weeks. It’s great for your health, you get fresh air, you can do a lot of sightseeing, and you can do all sorts of stunts in the air. On the downside, you can run into an eagle or an aircraft.”

The idea struck a chord with his office colleagues and later more workplaces in the locality where Murgadoss goes to work. It backfired severely in a few cases when some gliders indeed crashed into low-flying aeroplanes and helicopters, though there have been no casualties.

In solidarity with Bengalureans, some citizen groups in Mumbai and Delhi have started a campaign titled “We understand. We too have tried.” The Delhi government has responded with a plan to fix the traffic by mandating every citizen to ride only bicycles. The traffic police is drawing up a list of bicycle-related traffic violations – sources confirmed the plan to levy Rs 1,000 for dismantled chain or deflated tyre and Rs 5,000 for not wearing helmets and pads.

In other related news, Lalu Prasad Yadav has proposed the use of cows and bulls for commuting. He said one need not spend extra energy on honking – all that needs to be done is poking the animals on their heads.