The Supreme Court recently declared the right to walk on demarcated footpaths a fundamental right. Justice PV Narsimha wrote, 'The absence of footpaths to walk on, and even when they exist, their subjugation to motor transport, has been a civilisational problem.' The funda is solid, no doubt. But we Indians are sceptical of the gap that exists between normative ideal and ground reality. One hopes we can walk the talk.
I've been hit twice from behind, once by a motorcycle and another time by an autorickshaw. Both times, the pavement was absent. I'd like to extend the right to pavements to the right to cross the road. When I first went to England, I was surprised to find that there exists something called the pedestrian's right-of-way. Indian pavements, where they exist, become urinals, or they're turned into a parking lot. During peak traffic hours, 2-wheelers use them as a road to get ahead of traffic snarls. Our pavements are great at multi-tasking.
