The other morning, 20-year-old Priya was chugging through the drive-through in her Hyundai Accent. Since getting the car two years ago, she has essentially given her legs the rest of their lives off. She drives her sleek car to college in the morning, leaves it in the parking lot. She attends the classes she pleases to, and again is off in her car with her friends. She moves into a drive-in restaurant, spends time within her car…

"I drive everywhere, absolutely," she said proudly. "I'm in the car for a long time in a day. It's a lot easier than to have to walk anywhere. I love being in it" .

What was the shortest conceivable distance she would drive?

"Even if I am going to go around the corner, I'll drive" she said without any hesitation. "If you can drive next door, why exhaust yourself by walking?" That's her motto!

When she is not driving to see her friends, driving to college, or driving to the store, when she just wants to chill out a little already, what she often does is she drives.

"Yeah, I drive just to drive," she said. "It's recreation. I do more thinking in the vehicle driving. I find my mind is much calmer when I'm in the car."

This is Priya. It does sound outlandish today. Believe me! There are many more Priya's in making. Five years down the lane, I look at every affording family having a Priya. All this is fine for comfort and convenience. Has one given a thought as to how is it affecting the city? Alternatively, are there any chances many would give it in the future?

The pollution levels are increasing. Yes, the newer technology in the cars and better quality fuel can reduce it. What about the basic requirement for the car - the road surfaces? Are we having appropriate roads and surfaces for the ever-increasing number of cars, and managing a decent flow of traffic? Are the cops able to manage the traffic?

I look at the cars to be the most addictive substance after nicotine for the affording masses. The rate at which number of vehicles is growing in Bangalore (or any other city for that matter) makes me wonder - "We will have to spend over half of our drive time being stuck in traffic"

I really wish, we could employ the concept of car pools to check the car population. This will even conserve the perishable resources of black gold, which are present only in a limit. The roads will be freer, the flow of traffic smoother, lesser road tantrums, fewer hair-pulling moments, quicker traversal.

What do the pedestrians have to say in this situation? A few of them aspire at owning cars, thus adding to the car population. The others feel that the situation with more vehicles is going to be worse. They anyways walk on the road and not the footpaths due to the shoddy state of the latter. With more vehicles, they feel their left and right lanes are being encroached by the vehicles.

The car companies are very happy with the projections for the future. They are introducing newer models, bigger, sleeker, brighter, colorful cars, fancy designer / price tags et all. They are very optimistic of deeper penetrations in the market, and each one of them desirous of better market capture. We should see at least half a dozen new cars being introduced in the next couple of months.

Where does all this head to? I don't look at the roads being broadened, better traffic procedures, coming in place in the near future. The public transport is in a bad state. The commuters gain mass sympathy for undergoing the ordeal of erratic schedules, ill-kempt busses, rude drivers, bumpy rides, and other inconveniences.

We do aspire to make Bangalore like Singapore. Let us look at the initiative in this direction there. They have higher road taxes, very high parking fees, and an excellent public transport system. This does not make people there feel like buying their own vehicles as much as the people here. Look, they do have alternatives…

Do we have a solution to this problem? Feel free to drop in your opinions at the 'Banging it Out!' board in the Communiqué.

Your opinion matters...