Patna, Sept. 20: The torrential rain and maddening traffic teased commuter’s nerves on Friday evening even as a teenager was teased during the rush hour on Fraser Road.
Two hours of heavy rainfall followed by a nagging drizzle crippled the state capital and triggered traffic snarls.
Girls, who stepped out after tuition on Fraser Road around 8.30pm, had a tough time facing eve-teasers.
One of them was stranded on a narrow median divider along Fraser Road and found it almost impossible to weave her way through the stranded cars waiting to cross the Dakbungalow roundabout signal. Dressed in a navy blue T-shirt and black leggings, the girl, not more than 15 years old, had scare in her eyes. While a majority of motorists chose to ignore her in their desperateness to reach home fast, some youths had other designs on their minds. Wolf whistles and lewd comments followed from a corner of the dark, packed road. She repeatedly tried calling up her family members but without any luck.
When The Telegraph asked if she needed help, the teary girl replied: “I have to go to Bandar Bagicha and I cannot get through to my family. I am sure they must be worried and trying hard to reach me too. I had come to Fraser Road to a friend’s place when it started raining heavily. I have been trying to walk along this narrow divider but motorists are coming from all sides and bikers are resting one leg on the divider. I am embarrassed.”
A stranded motorist, a senior citizen, asked the girl to go back to her friend’s place. “I cannot. There’s no way. She stays on SP Verma Road. I tried to go back but boys stranded there are troubling me,” she said and wept.
The man had nothing more to say but looked to the other side. “It is really sad that some people do these things. It has been an hour since I started and I have just moved around 30 metres. I have a long way to go. I live on Boring Road and fear there will be a similar snarl at the other roundabouts I have to pass,” said the man.
It was almost 9.30pm. The girl disappeared after some time and strangers on the road started talking with each other. Vehicle owners were arguing with family members over the phone or shouting at drivers. People craned their necks out of car windows or stood up on their bikes and tried to look at the Dakbungalow roundabout. “I can see the red and green lights blinking. That means cops are manning the traffic,” said a biker.
However, his thrill was not shared by others, as another looked up at the underconstruction Patna Central Mall and murmured: “It’s still a long way from home and he is excited.” As time passed, a motorist, out of desperation, asked his pillion rider for help. Both made their way somehow and picked up the bike to cross to the other flank of the street through the divider seeing it comparatively free.
But a youth walking from the same direction said: “You are making a mistake, as the traffic is stuck further down.”
Another 15 minutes passed before the clogged road opened a bit and people just started to dart towards the roundabout not caring about the heavy water, which splashed on others’ faces and cars.
As one reached the roundabout, they found the water knee-deep. Senior citizens drove through, continuously chanting the Hanuman Chalisa.
The traffic had gone thin towards the Income Tax roundabout as the clock stuck 10.15pm.
