quite a ride!

Usually on my way back I see sights which amuse me, some which make me sad, but yesterday I came across something that made me livid! If you go down the Pragati Maidan road, you will come across a red light. If you take a left from there you will reach ITO and a right turn will lead you to East Delhi (that useless piece of info was just to help you establish the location). Everyday, I see a group of school boys gathered at the junction creating quite a ruckus. The boisterous lot have no qualms in passing lewd remarks at passers by or passing through vehicles trying to intimidate auto and car passengers. Since it is quite a long red light, I get the full blast of their hooliganism. Yesterday, however, they crossed all limits. A DTC bus was patiently biding its time when these youngsters decided to have some fun. One by one they leapt on to the back of the bus, balancing themselves precariously. When a couple of auto rickshaw drivers tried to dissuade them from doing so, they started throwing things at the vehicles. With loud noises, wolf whistles and lewd songs on their lips, they continued to maintain their position at the derriere of the bus. The feeling of smugness was quite evident on their faces...the fact that they considered themselves heroes could be seen in their haughty demeanour. Surprisingly, the bus driver and conductor did nothing to make these boys get down. In fact they looked on encouragingly. Since this light is a few metres ahead of the Trade Fair venue where the police presence is quite high, one would have expected that someone would come and chastise the boys..but nothing happened. If any of the boys would have lost balance and fallen off the bus, it is ghastly to just imagine what the consequences would have been. Even now as I am puttin gthe post up, a colleague came up and laughed out....according to him I was behaving like a perfect foreign tourist who has never seen the state of Delhi traffic and is aghast with surprise. But isn' this attitude itself giving encouragement to such behaviour. I know some people who read this may feel that I am acting like a perfect grandmother..but I dont care! WHo is to educate people abt the fine line between daredevilry and foolishness. Tomm if one of these boys loses his life in such acts of wild stupidity, what could have been a fine life ahead will be lost.....It may sound corny...bt this one line from Sarkar keeps coming to my mind "Door ke fayde ke liye paas ka nuskaan nahi sochna chahiye" (or sthing like that). Just felt really irritated by this incident and thought that the least I could do was vent out my feelings. Do put in your comments....and let me know what you think abt this...