<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)"> <style>  </style> </head> <body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=blue> <div class=Section1> I am very much in favour of these traffic calming devices and have suggested we incorporate the same on New York city streets.   Far fewer pedestrians would be killed on 5th avenue if we had some nice hindu temples, cows, and elephants, in the middle of the road to slow down the vehicles encouraged to drive 55kph by greenwaved ATS.   Best Walter   -----Original Message----- From: sustran-discuss-bounces+whook=itdp.org@list.jca.apc.org [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+whook=itdp.org@list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of Madhav Badami, Prof. Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 10:00 AM To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport Subject: [sustran] Re: Indian roads - planes, cows, elephants, mosques   Dear Carlos,   Once the craziness of the academic term comes to an end, I promise a detailed response to Jonathan Richmond's (and others') postings on the situation in India (and what we can and ought to do about it). I will try and work elephants, cows and yoga  -- but not planes -- into my response as well :-). Meanwhile, I will leave you with this personal viewpoint ... India is like life itself -- joyous, sometimes sublime, and at the very same time, very messy, even obscene, but never ever dull and boring.    Madhav <div>   </div> ************************************************************************ <div>   </div> "As for the future, your task is not to foresee, but to enable it." Antoine de Saint-Exupery   Madhav G. Badami, PhD School of Urban Planning and McGill School of Environment McGill University Macdonald-Harrington Building 815 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal, QC, H3A 2K6, Canada   Phone: 514-398-3183 (Work); 514-486-2370 (Home) Fax: 514-398-8376; 514-398-1643 URLs: <a href="http://www.mcgill.ca/urbanplanning">www.mcgill.ca/urbanplanning</a> <a href="http://www.mcgill.ca/mse">www.mcgill.ca/mse</a> e-mail: <a href="mailto:madhav.badami@mcgill.ca">madhav.badami@mcgill.ca</a> <div>   </div>   <div class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-left:.5in;text-align:center'> <hr size=2 width="100%" align=center> </div> From: sustran-discuss-bounces+madhav.g.badami=mcgill.ca@list.jca.apc.org [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+madhav.g.badami=mcgill.ca@list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of Carlos F. Pardo Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 9:42 AM To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport Subject: [sustran] Indian roads - planes, cows, elephants, mosques We had the chance to be in India (Delhi, Chandigarh, Pune) last week, working in a BRT training course with the SUTP project, ITDP and World Bank (which was very useful). Parallel to the workshop I would go walking around to see these cities. This news from a plane in the middle of a road reminded me of some other issues I saw: - A mosque as wide as the sidewalk (Delhi), "blocking" the way for pedestrians, - An elephant walking on a major arterial, - The typical cows in roundabouts or roads, - The classic situation of the "chaotic" Indian intersection. This has all made me think deeper about the recent discussion started by J. Richmond. Is it institutions? Is it a deeply culturally rooted characteristic of Indians? Is it religion, yoga or whatever? I bought a book on Indian culture which I've started reading to see if I find any answers. I would really like to hear from people in India their point of view on why they think this happens. Being from Colombia, I'm completely lost trying to understand this. Best regards, <pre style='margin-left:.5in'>Carlos </pre> Roselle Rivera wrote: something (amusing/very bothering?) on transport.  Bad and irresponsible planning? or planned tourist attraction? ** The Boeing 737 stuck in city road ** Residents of the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) are wondering how long it will take to remove a disused Boeing 737 that has been abandoned in a busy road. < <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6620461.stm" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send=true>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/6620461.stm</a> > ** BBC Daily E-mail ** Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all in one daily e-mail < <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/email" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send=true>http://www.bbc.co.uk/email</a> > ** Disclaimer ** The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC's views or opinions. 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