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An endless wait. That's how I felt while waiting to cross the road.

The vehicles zoomed past me. They seemed to pick up speed just when I thought it was the right moment to sprint across to the other side of the road! No sooner had the red come, the green followed, leaving me no chance to cross! 5 minutes, 10 minutes and now it was going to be 15...

Years ago, I hadnt given much thought to crossing a road. It was a simple series of steps. Look right, left and quickly cross over when you find a sizeable gap between oncoming vehicles. Well, the last point requires a bit of judgement. It takes a little of practice to determine when you can cross and when you cannot. For instance, when you see a speeding motorbike, it's wise to stop. On the other hand, if you were close to a bus stop, and a bus just halted there, you can cross in peace.

On this particular day, however, all tactics seemed to fail. I looked right, and couldnt find a gap, kept looking and looking and looking...When I turned to my left, there were some five others who had joined me in the ritual. I looked at the girl beside me. She gave a bright smile..'Waiting to cross?'. She sounded enthusiastic. 'No..I am counting the number of vehicles which have a number plate with digits that add upto 7', I wanted to say, but thought the better of it and decided not to be rude and merely nodded my head. I noticed two constables standing a few yards away. They were chuckling with delight looking at the helpless lot. In a flash, a fellow ran across, making atleast 4 drivers give vent to their anger!! I stared,scared! I wanted to scream 'Stop' at the top of my voice and walk gallantly across....

In the 17th minute of the wait, as I stepped forward, I found the drivers slowing down...'Ahh...magic!' I thought. The constables' lathis and a shrill whistle had done the trick..! Once on the other side, one of the constables gave a toothy grin. 'I wanted to see how long you guys would wait!' he said... 'Verrry funny!'