I have a feeling that well made roads are a very recent phenomenon perhaps Adolf Hitler perfected this for obvious reasons. I would imagine that across cultures and countries till about two hundred years back, only highways or roads leading to palaces or main markets were well made and rest of the roads in the city or villages were primitive having little resemblance to the roads we see today. Perhaps in so called poor countries it is still that way but I am sure it is changing fast.
In Lucknow the city where I live in north India due to influx of a large number of people seeking work and perhaps business the roads are virtually crammed with vehicles of all sizes; also pavement sellers have increased in geometric proportions and this has made me think a lot about Indian roads. Our roads in India are free – free in all senses of the word though vehicle owners have to pay a hefty road tax to be accurate. Our roads are probably the only gift we have received from our rulers in the last thousand years or maybe more. You can block one whole stretch of road and have a marriage party there and keep the road blocked for even a couple of days. You can block it for religious purposes like a jagran or offering namaz or Ganesh puja. You can block it permanently by constructing a mosque or temple in various stages step by step or even a mazaar or a mini temple. You can block a part of the road and construct your lawn on it but in that case unless you are connected to a political party you may be fined but you can always get a stay from a court for that. You can block a historical building’s part jutting out on the road and have your shop there as I have seen in Lucknow. The list is endless! Oh I just remembered in one area in Lucknow after blocking part of the road people actually built a house and constructed a bridge connecting the blocked part to their home and they park their car on that bridge and this was replicated several times so much so that the government actually widened that road and built a very smooth and high quality road on that encroached road and in fact created a whole bypass road there; so the way was actually shown by the encroachers. In another area in Lucknow pavement shop keepers became so numerous and so strong in one old market of Lucknow that the government actually had to give them well constructed shops for free before removing them from the market! These are the rich benefits of encroaching upon roads in India. Stay tuned for more interesting stories I am still compiling them and feel free to add yours in comments section.
