NH17 and road signs

Slight upheaval in life – I am joining a new job tomorrow – going to be working full time after many years – slow blogging this last one week since all my free time has been spent in getting myself out of the knots I have been tying myself into at thought of full time work. So here I am cheating just a little bit, reposting from my archives.

Dreaming of such long drives and holidays even before work has started… Happy Monday Morning!

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The Bombay – Goa highway NH 17 is a beautiful route – I expect it is breathtaking during the monsoons – it goes over innumerable small (and some quaint) bridges with streams and (potentially) rivers flowing underneath them – and over miles and miles of ghat roads… and if nature all around you is not enough to keep you occupied and enertained through this long drive, there are the road signs – surely the work of a super creative mind – longing for expression – within the roadways department.

They range from the simple – SPEED IS KILLING NOT THRILLING – to the more complicated LIVE AND LEFT LIVE (???)

And then there are more morbid ones – THIS IS A HIGH-WAY, NOT A DIE-WAY (gulp, I hope so) – certainly the product of a frusrated and overworked government official…
The cheerfully promising – TODAY IS MY ‘NO ACCIDENT’ DAY – what about tomorow then?

The signs in Marathi are much more strict and sermonising in tone – MOH TAALA, NIYAM PAALA which I assume means – Oh sinner, resist the temptation – to speed/crash/kill whatever – and follow the rules…

This one has an air of finality about it – JHOPLA TO SAMPLA – loosely translating into – fall alseep, and you are finished. After which sign, I kept glancing nervously at my husband every thirty seconds and kept pumping him with coffee to make sure he stayed bright and awake at the wheel…

And there is also – SAFETY ON ROAD IS SAFE TEA AT HOME – tea or coffee or whatever it takes, just stay awake and get me home safe… and CONTROL YOUR NERVES ON THE CURVES (is this a sexist road sign?)

Inscrutable oriental philosophy too finds expression in these roads – SENSE OF LIFE IS THE ESSENCE OF LIVING. duh?

And these are only a few that I remember now… Take it from me – this is one journey that promises entertainment all through, especially if you are not at the wheel! This drive was enroute Goa – we stopped at three different beaches on the way and never reached Goa. Expect post on this very soon with pictures.

And can you think of any amusing road signs you have come across?