Escalator - is it an enigma?

Next time you visit any of the malls in the city, please stand near the escalator and observe.

Observe what? Humans. Not all of them. Just the vast majority of them who simply cannot get on an escalator.

I think as a community, people in Chennai are very nearly incapable of climbing on an escalator without causing any grievous injury to themselves or the others on the escalator or possibly the escalator itself.

You see an assortment of men and women of all ages and all backgrounds basically tremble at the sight of an escalator. I think if you offer them a choice of
(a) go to the Siachen army base, or
(b) use an escalator
I think they will unflinchingly opt for the glacier.

Agreed, having sarees or dhothis is not too conducive to use the escalator. But, a minor technical adjustment in the way one holds these costumes and voila, getting on/off an escalator is easy.

And what really intrigues me is that, if you fear something a lot, you would normally get as far away from it as possible. But not so with the escalatorophobiacs - I don't know the actual phobia name associated with it and so have decided to name it like this. Once they reach the end of the escalator, it takes them a full 2 seconds to grasp the fact that they have reached the end of their journey.

In terms of the age of this third rock from the sun, 2 seconds may be minuscule. But in reality, it is just enough time left for the person behind the escalatorophobiac to come and crash into him/her.

In fact, we are so bad at using escalators, that I was actually happy with the Chennai Egmore Railway Station's proactive approach. You may have heard that Chennai Egmore now has the escalator to reach some of the inner platforms, so that you can avoid hiking up the ancient stairs (built for the 6 feet British soldiers of the late 19th century).

The authorities have actually appointed a person at the foot of the escalator, to regulate the usage of the escalator. His primary duty is to check the way people board the steps and monitor their reaction. If he finds anyone having the slightest hesitation in boarding the first step he simply stops the escalator. Then allows the 'phobiac to settle his/her body neatly on a stair. After satisfying himself about the relative position of the aforementioned body on the stationary surface, he then switches on the escalator and lets it continue taking this passenger up the stair.

The good thing is that, whenever he sees such a 'phobiac, he also ensures that the escalator is stopped at the exit point as well. He goes a long distance in customer satisfaction.

Actually, the escalator in contention, is one of the best I have encountered so far. It has a small leeway of around 2-3 feet, before the ascent. Similarly, after reaching the summit, there is again a 2-3 feet of flat surface before you need to alight the stairs.

Yet, its a pity that we live in a city where it is necessary to have manually operated escalators.