[ANT] The mechanical waltz

Life resembles a chaotic dance of people and things. The dancers each swirl their way through the space provided by the others. They dance because they have to... with a few actually enjoying the dance and the way they dance... This is a chaotic, passionate waltz, much like Brownian movement.



For me, it's easy to think of life while on the mechanical waltz to work. Yes, this is my wonderful city's traffic I'm talking about. Come morning, and the metal beasts of burden yank their lords to their destinations, in a dizzying, swirling, absurd dance that defies attempts at logic. And the dancers can sometimes be typecast! There are the auto-rickshaws with an identity crisis: They think they are two wheelers, but alas, fate has other things in store for them. The thing to be admired is their spirit, they carry on like two wheelers, regardless, more a caprice than a waltz...
And what about the two wheelers themselves! The two wheelers dance to a Presto while the rest are at Largo. Any remote air vent between 2 other vehicles shall do, and they shalt make their way, firmly convinced of their immortality. There again is their wonderful belief that theonly true world is the one in front of their front wheel, all else is maya! Hence they undertake lateral spatial transitions as well, in total bliss. And the blaring horns and screamed invective... hmph, mere trifles! If anything, they add flavour to the sounds of the symphony, and the waltz continues...
And the buses and trucks, the mastodons on the tarmac, the last bastion of stability in a sea of the volatile? Naah, not quite. Like any heavily built dancer, they like to imagine they are light on their feet, and add many a whimsical twist in the tapestry of the waltz! This, coupled with their almost-real immortality, allows them to throw their weight around! And the cars, poor creatures, are forever frustrated by the cruel world that does not allow them to move in freedom. "I mean, other vehicles on the road should be illegal, how dare the bike in front of me go at 40 when I want to floor the pedal!". And of course, no one follows lane discipline, so the cars have to make their way through, around, along or against the traffic. And there's always the odd bike they may have to nudge, but it's all a part of the dance...

Note: This post is dedicated to all the dancers that fit in this category. There are the specialists I may have ignored, and my apologies go out to them, but I felt they were beyond words! This includes: cab drivers, mobile-phone-addict drivers, female drivers {yeah, go ahead, flame me on that}, underage drivers, adrenaline junkies...