*Daily rant*

I'm sitting here drawing on a large, cold coffee, trying to slurp past the ice slush, trying to alleviate this boredom.

So what do I write about?

Describing the pangs of guilt about my long, long overdue set of video library DVDs? ("Yes, I'll bring them back this weekend. I'm sorry, I've been out of town.") And the set of books that my lending library is resigned to never seeing again? ("Yes, I received your reminder. Yes, I'll bring them back this weekend. I'm sorry, I've been out of town.") Writing about it will only induce further pangs of guilt.

Writing about my joy at downloading the five final episodes of the teen TV show that I watch furtively, obsessively? This will just deepen the pangs of guilt about the overdue library books and overdue library DVDs.

Writing about the creeping caffeinated bliss of my most excellent cup of coffee? Analyzing it will only ruin it.

So, casting all this aside, I'll do what comes best. I'll rant.

Here's a question for the pedestrian proletariat that flood the streets and bylanes of this fair city.

When you attempt to dash across a busy four-lane road, occupied by seven-and-a half lanes of traffic, and you hold out your hand, indicating that the oncoming traffic should stop and allow you to cross, what exactly are you hoping to achieve? The drivers you are trying to hold off are people who are dismissive of traffic lights, and indifferent to road rules. These are drivers who will swerve dangerously around a wobbly cyclist and then rant at him for occupying even that modest space on the road. These are people who are venting the pent-up, accumulated frustration of their collective lives by stepping on the gas. People like me, who are impatient and jaded and need to get wherever they are going very, very quickly. So, pedestrian, do you really hope to check this wild impetus by sauntering across the road with your hand extended?

And should the drivers choose to ignore you, as they often do, then what? When a large body of steel and glass is hurtling at you, horns blaring, are you really that willing to trust your life in the hands of the driver behind that wheel? As I ply my way through the relentless chaos by IIT Madras every morning, this leap of faith never cases to amaze.

*End rant*