I recently read someone declare Pune’s citizens “traffic illiterate” and was struck by how apt that definition is. I don’t even have to go across the city to confirm the verisimilitude of that observation. In my own hyper-suburban neighborhood, making short trips—by foot, bike, or car—feels like a visceral version of Road Rash , minus the handy chain, bat, protective gear, and other accoutrements that, in all likelihood, I am wont to use liberally. Perhaps not having them is a good thing. Perhaps. I certainly spend some time while riding or driving dreamily considering the benefits of tyre irons, knuckledusters, and the like. Speaking of going halfway across the city, I did just that yesterday. I’d confined? huddled?… well, something-ed myself to the safe cocoon of home for the past couple of weekends, trying to locate paperwork and complete long-pending projects. I wasn’t complaining, mind, but it was brought to my attention that there was a world (the merits of which are deba...