Roadside Poetry

Back from a trip to Ladakh, I have enormous respect for the Border Roads Organization (BRO). How these guys have managed to build motorable roads at that altitude and against such treacherous terrain is beyond my comprehension. Hats off to these guys!

This trip took me back over two decades to the days when my dad was posted to Jammu and Kashmir. We had taken a long road trip from Udhampur in the trusted Willys Jeep covering places like Srinagar, Ramban, Verinag, Sonmarg and Gulmarg. Since I was only in the 3^rd standard then, my recollection of the trip is slightly patchy. One thing I do remember vividly though, is my fascination with the BRO road signs. Even today, these road signs do not disappoint – they are as rib tickling and corny as they were back in the day.

 

 

So, as a big Thank You to the BRO, here is my pick of the quirkiest BRO road signs that I encountered in Ladakh:

·         Be gentle on my curves

       ·         I'm curvaceous. Be slow.

·         Check your nerves on my curves

·         Speed and safety have never met

·         A spill, a slip, a hospital trip

·         Night doubles traffic troubles

·         After whisky, driving risky

·         If you spit, you will skid

·         If you are married, divorce speed

·         Darling I like you, but not so fast

·         Safety on the road is ‘safe tea’ at home

·         Drive like hell and you will be there

·         Don't gossip. Let him drive.

·         That is deep. Don't go sleep.

·         On the bend, go slow friend

·         It is not a rally. Enjoy the valley.

·         Life is a journey, complete it.

·         Be weatherwise or otherwise

·         Highway is not the way to get high

·         Hurry burry spoils the curry

·         For safe arriving, no liquor in driving

·         Don't be gama in the land of Lama

·         Wherever you drive, arrive alive

·         No need for overspeed

·         No hurry, no worry

·         You are not being chased

·         Accidents don't happen, they are caused

·         Heaven, hell or Mother Earth, the choice is yours

·         Someone's always waiting, better be late

·         Drive on horse power, not on rum power

 

There was a hilarious Pakistani play called Bakra Qishton Pe, where a guy says “agar shayari seekhni hai to kitaabein nahi, bus pado, rickshaw aur truck pado” (meaning if you want to learn poetry, you shouldn't read books. You should read the back of buses, rickshaws and trucks). I say we definitely should add the BRO road signs to that list!