It was a normal day of my life, I was off for the day and going home tired. Lucky me that day, I got an empty seat in a local bus. It is not usual to find an empty seat in a local bus, specially during the office hour. Soon before the bus move, I got a company of an elderly man, he was around 40-45, seems like an banker or may be a businessman. It is my usual job, guessing people's age and job while on the bus. There was a heavy traffic than the usual that day, I was feeling lucky that I do not have to stand for that long. The man next to me seems impatient and start complaining about the government. I took earphone off my both ears and asked him if he says something to me. He was, like, amazed for a second and continue saying. He keep saying about the traffic in the Kathmandu, the pollution due to under-construction roads, politics and all. I was, like, yes... yes-of course... blah blah blah.
He then asked me a question, "Why people buy bike?" He paused, I think he wanted an answer from me. I replied "I don't know, may be they are in hurry". He said, "Exactly! you would never get to destination on time in these local buses." I turn my head around the driver of the bus, he was busy looking at someone opposite gender in the car next to him. The man continues, "If you want to reach somewhere, you have to catch a bus 30 minutes earlier". I said, "True". "People do not have choice but to buy a private vehicle". I remembered few weeks ago I took an nearly empty bus from Suryavinayak to go to Koteswor, It was 15-20 minutes in a local bus and less than 10 minutes in a bike. That bus costs me 45 minutes. I really hoped I had a bike so I never had to get in a local bus again.
A wise man once said "A country is developed when people ride bus instead of car". A simple but powerful truth. There is no question on the statement, of course the country will develop, specially country like Nepal. We do not have oil source of own, we do not have vehicle manufacturing, and parts too. We have to import them all.
Lets imagine for a moment, a bus can carry around 40 people (good case scenario). Which means at least 20 motor bike, that means a bus is equivalent to 20 bikes. Everyday thousands of bikes heat the Kathmandu roads. If the local bus had served well the number of bikes would have been reduced to hundreds. Just imagine the traffic then.
Riding a motor bike in Nepal has been more than a necessity, its been a part of fashion among the young generation. "You want a girl, get a bike first" is the mentality of young generation. Government had made new law regarding new generation and bike, that no student would ride a bike to college. The law was effective for few months, but lost like other laws of Nepal.
Our government and politicians have a lot of things to think about except for this, they are too busy fighting themselves that they forgot Nepal is still under-developed. They are happy when other country refer Nepal as a developing country. I couldn't see any thing that is developing here, I would rather call it under-developed.
Lets imagine for a moment, a bus can carry around 40 people (good case scenario). Which means at least 20 motor bike, that means a bus is equivalent to 20 bikes. Everyday thousands of bikes heat the Kathmandu roads. If the local bus had served well the number of bikes would have been reduced to hundreds. Just imagine the traffic then.
Riding a motor bike in Nepal has been more than a necessity, its been a part of fashion among the young generation. "You want a girl, get a bike first" is the mentality of young generation. Government had made new law regarding new generation and bike, that no student would ride a bike to college. The law was effective for few months, but lost like other laws of Nepal.
Our government and politicians have a lot of things to think about except for this, they are too busy fighting themselves that they forgot Nepal is still under-developed. They are happy when other country refer Nepal as a developing country. I couldn't see any thing that is developing here, I would rather call it under-developed.
No comments:
Post a Comment