Do you know why traffic signal lights have an Amber/Yellow light?

Well, that was a question I was asked by a Traffic Policeman on 30th September 2010. The location was near Thoraippakkam on OMR and was roundabouts of here. The reason why that Traffic Policeman asked me that question was because, he "caught" me skipping a signal in that area.

This is what happened. I was returning home with my friend a little early that day. That day also happened to be the date when the verdict of the Ayodha Case (pertaining to ownership of land) was supposed to be announced and my office had asked all employees to leave by 3 PM. I usually return home by ECR whenever I go to the office closer home. But to avoid few sensitive pockets there, I opted to take the OMR.

When I was nearing the aforementioned signal on OMR, the green changed to amber/yellow. I was slightly distracted by a car readying to take U-turn from the opposite side and opted to not stop my car. I increased the speed and when I crossed the Stop Line, the signal turned Red. I could obviously not stop at that stage and drove on, only to be stopped by a Traffic Policeman.

Unlike my previous experience being stopped by a Traffic Policeman, this guy didn't come around waving any stick. The road was empty and I was also at a relatively slower speed of 50-55 KmPH. So, he basically just wandered into my lane and directed me to pull over.

After I stopped my vehicle, he came over and asked me the question "Signal-la yellow light yaen pottirukku theriyuma? Slow down pannarthukku. Fast-a varathukku illa. Vaanga, vandhu fine kattitu poanga". I responded that I couldn't slow down since I was at 40 and that was why I crossed it. The guy didn't buy it and said that they have timed the Amber/Yellow such that everyone can stop peacefully after seeing it!

I got down from my car and went up to the Police jeep, where to my satisfaction, I saw 5 others talking with the Policemen there. I saw the Police fill out challans to 2 of them and collecting Rs.300/- each. These both were car drivers. There were 3 others who were trying to argue with the Policeman who stopped me, but he was clear that people had violated the signal. And he was not willing to accept any deals and simply asked them all to pay up the Rs.300/- and collect the challan.

Meanwhile, the challan preparing Policeman and his partner, asked me for my license and started writing down details. I asked the partner Policeman if this was a spot fine and he responded in the affirmative. I then told him to see if there was an option whereby he could just write me a challan or ticket and we could settle this in court.

The guy, who till then didn't even make eye-contact with me, finally looked up and asked why I wanted to do it. I told him that I wanted to contest this booking and so, wanted only a court summons and not a spot fine. He asked me why I wanted to go to the court and what would be my plea? Would I argue that I hadn't skipped the signal?

I told him that I wasn't going to refute the fact that I skipped the signal. However, I was going to explain to the court that since I was at the upper limit of the permitted speed on that road, I didn't have enough time to stop when I saw the amber. That, if I had still halted, I would have done so with a major screech and could very well have made the vehicle following me, bump into me. And furthermore, I would have definitely crossed the Stop Line and would have stopped in the middle of the road and become an obstruction to traffic. Also, the same Policemen would have then fined me for stopping after the Stop Line.

All of this, I told him in a very firm yet non-argumentative tone. I was also surprisingly not nervous about the whole deal (probably because it was my second interaction with the Highway Patrol folks in 12 months) and so, had a very confident looking body language as well. I definitely think that all those soft-skill training sessions I took in my formative years in the Corporate World, finally paid their due.

The Policeman then took a very advisory tone and told me that I may very well be a very big Officer in my company, but that I had to respect the Traffic Rules. I told him that I always do and just that, due to reasons given earlier, I couldn't stop after seeing the Amber/Yellow. He then took a pause and told the challan-writer to make the fine for only Rs.100/- since I was giving out so many valid points! He turned to me and said that, that was all he could do.

I thanked him and returned to my car. After I came home, I handed over the ticket to my father. Since my mother was quite engrossed with the media coverage of the verdict, we didn't tell her about it. I then had a quick look at the back-side of the challan and found that the rates for all Spot Fines were listed there.

And for skipping signals, the fine amount was only Rs.50, whereas I had paid Rs.100 after I'd argued myself from a Rs.300 demand. So my advice to all of you folks who are pulled up to pay Spot Fines, is to (1) talk to them in a firm tone without sounding aggressive or offensive and (2) indicate that you wont mind going to court and (3) tell them that Spot Fines are always only Rs.50.

And finally, if you still don't know why traffic signal lights change from green to amber/yellow, it is to apparently to caution the drivers to slow down!

Monumental bulbs

On the day that India was celebrating the birthday of M.K.Gandhi, Mrs. and Mr.Raghu and self, decided to go out on a long drive along the ECR. Our dear friend Nilu, however, couldn’t make it due to “prior commitments”. We weren’t really clear about where to go, but we were clear that the main intent was to spend time out of the house and not inside a mall/movie hall.

In October 2007, while returning from Vaitheeswaran Kovil by car, I had noticed a board near Kalpakkam that talked about the presence of a Dutch Fort. Since I have a mild attraction to archaeological monuments, I have been thinking about visiting this place ever since.

So I broached this venue to Raghu and he accepted it with no qualms. After working out the logistics, we decided to head out by 2.30 PM and believe it or not, we actually left by 2.50!

After we started from home, we first headed out to my usual petrol bunk at Adyar to fill in fuel. In what turned out to be a harbinger for the rest of the day, the bunk was closed. We moved on to another bunk nearby, filled up the fuel and proceeded with the trip.

We had a pretty decent drive, notwithstanding the efforts of an SUV to run over us a few kilometers after Mahabs. We finally reached Kalpakkam. But there was no sign of the board that I saw last year. We stopped over at a couple of places to enquire about the fort. And no one actually knew about it. Finally there was a cop buying some stuff at a shop and I approached him. He finally understood what I was looking for and gave me the directions to the “koattai saar. British kaaran kaalathula kattinadhu”. He obviously lived with the maxim that all Caucasians are British theory and I had no patience to try and correct him.

We followed his directions and after passing through the Kalpakkam Township, we finally spotted a rather small board that said “Dutch Fort and Cemetery” and had an arrow pointing to the left. We looked to the left and lo behold, there was this long wall which had shed its plastering and was proudly exposing its bricks. We turned left and took the road alongside this wall, only to find a longer wall exhibiting a similar constitution. We then reached the entrance.

After having reached the entrance, we were worried if there was some other way to go inside the Fort. The reason was the presence of a tall iron gate that was locked. There was a small gap in the fencing (by design) and there was something like a path that led to another of the walls I mentioned before. This wall however was different, because it had the semblance of a formal entrance in the form of a gate capped by a minar like structure and there were 2 canons on either side of this gate.

One thing that was glaringly visible was the ABSENCE of people. In a country that’s known for its density of population, it was scary to see nobody at a monument where some kind of history exists. There were no visitors. There were no officials. There were no sign boards other than the one at the main gate that said that this was a protected monument. The only way we knew that we were not trespassing into someone’s private property was the assurance from a local woman who looked like the caretaker of the place.

Even as we stepped inside these walls, I was still alive to the possibility of seeing some relics. Some more cannons. Probably a spot where some major fight took place. The place where they stored their ammunition. The place where chief’s office was. The place where they had their flag post. And all of this explained with lot of signboards.

But all I could see inside was a big piece of land with growth of wild grass and a few trees in the middle. There was this muddy path which was headed towards a few structures which were in a dilapidated condition. You just cannot say what these structures were meant for, by looking at it.



The caretaker lady pointed us to an area which was basically the Cemetery mentioned in the board we had seen 10 minutes ago. We went inside and came out in, probably, 39 seconds. Then, we headed inside the grounds I mentioned earlier. We went inside one of these structures and found them to be just rooms; rooms with windows and arched ceilings. The area we went to appeared to have walls that were plastered with modern day cement. Obviously some amount of restoration has happened, but then, the charm of the old building was lost. There were more ruins of course, but we were in a deep state of bulb to try and venture there.

We took the mandatory pictures of our presence in that place and made a hurried exit. The visit to this Fort would probably rank in the top 10 bulbs I’ve had in terms of expecting great things and getting sheer nonsense. In fact, it is high time the authorities call it the “Dutch Cemetery and an extended ruined compound wall around it”.

And thinking about the Fort now, it is clear why the Dutch never ruled us. Going by the reports in the article related to the excavations done here, this Fort seemed to have been some sort of a glorified club/watering-hole for the expatriates of those times. In fact, the fight between the Dutch and the Brits must have come up due to suspected foul play during a Tiger-Goat-game! Or else, this Fort was just a warehouse for the Dutch traders to stock their goods. And probably they sabotaged their stock to take the insurance benefit. Unfortunately, they may have insured with some Brits who found out the truth and took over the Fort/Warehouse.

Anyways, after we came out, we decided to head to Mahabs with the knowledge and assurance of being able to see ancient architecture. We stopped over for a quick cup of coffee that extended itself into a plate of vegetable bonda. We set out to the Shore Temple.

Unfortunately, that day turned out to be “Kaanum Eid” – at least that’s what I am calling it since I don’t know the technical details for that festival. You see, we Hindus in Tamil Nadu have this event called “Kaanum Pongal”. This is the day after all other Pongal days and families make it a point to visit important tourist spots. I called this Gandhi Jayanthi day as “Kaanum Eid” because there was a lot of crowd around the Shore Temple and most of these were Muslims. Since the previous day was Eid, I created this event called “Kaanum Eid” to equate my Muslim brethren with the Hindus.

Anyways, by the time we reached the Shore Temple, the authorities refused entry since the stipulated visiting hours were getting over in 5 minutes. We then braved the crowd and headed to the beach just for the heck of it. We spent some time in the Mahabs Promenade (c’mon there were merry-go-rounds, bonsai giant-wheels, air-rifles to shoot balloons, lot of small shops selling souvenirs and hell even an apology of a LifeGuard’s outpost) and after Mrs. and Mr.Raghucompleted their souvenir purchases, we walked back to our car.

Even as I was driving the car back home, I got a call from my team-member at onsite about a serious problem that had come up. Raghu being the great guy he is, he quickly took over the steering wheel and drove us back, while I chalked out some plan with my team-member.

The only good part of the day came after we reached home. We had decided to have dinner at Eden and as is always the case with them, we were not disappointed. The really good dinner helped round off what was otherwise a day filled with one bulb after another.

Note: The Dutch Fort and Cemetery is listed at # 66 in ASI’s list of monuments in Tamil Nadu.

Road Sign - what should I do now

When I was in Std X, I participated in an inter-school quiz/test on Road Safety and won the first prize. It was conducted by IRTA and the state Transport Ministry. So I got the prize from the then state transport minister and even got coverage in some local newspapers - with photo.

Anyways, the point is, when I topped that exam (beating out all the kids of Chennai), I clearly aced all the questions on road signs that were asked. But thank God, this one was not there in the exam.

This sign is near the Tambaram Railway Station. Saw this a week ago but was able to take a picture only yesterday.

But what is a road user supposed to do at that junction? Or not do for that matter.