The street route to traffic rules ………Nitasha Natu I TNN
A smart-looking executive eggs his cab driver to honk near a hospital and cut lanes as he is getting late for work. When beggars and eunuchs harass him at a traffic signal, he lashes out at the cabbie for not speeding. But the unfazed taxi driver sticks to his guns and gives him a lesson in traffic rules instead.
As the 15-minute street play comes to an end, the audience comprising taxi, auto and BEST bus drivers go berserk, cheering loudly. And the traffic police, who came with the idea of tying up with the theatre actors, cant help smiling.
We have been performing outside railway stations, tourist attractions like the Gateway, and the international and domestic airports since Monday. The idea is to make motoristsespecially public transport drivers aware of traffic guidelines, said Mujeeb Khan, director of the Idea Academy. Khan, who wrote the play, had approached deputy commissioner Harish Baijal and volunteered to spread the word during the Road Safety Week (January 1-7) organised by the cops.
Khan and his bunch of actors have been staging plays on writer-poet Munshi Premchands works. After joint police commissioner Sanjay Barve briefed him on the common traffic violations committed on city streets, Khan came up with a script in two days, Baijal said.
We wanted to provide him props like cutouts of buses and cabs, but Khan wanted to stage the plays immediately. We then offered him banners to highlight road safety rules like Observe speed limits and Drinking + Driving = Fatal combination.
On Tuesday, Khans team performed at the Andheri RTO. Everyday situations have been used and traffic guidelines have been woven into the script. Our actors mouth dialogues in Mumbaiya Hindi, says Khan.
A BEST bus driver overtakes a stunned cabbie in the play, even as an engrossed audience looks on. The driver stops way ahead of the bus-stop and when a passenger protests, offers his seat to her to drive. The audience breaks into a peal of laughter as they can relate to the situation. The play ends with the bus driver being brought to book by the cabbie whom he overtook. We couldnt help agreeing with the actors when they explained that 600 accidents take place every year due to non-adherence of traffic rules, said auto driver G Solanki.
The last performance of Khans group is on Wednesday evening.
DRIVING HOME THE MESSAGE: Traffic police have tied up with a group of theatre actors to spread awareness among public transport drivers through street plays