Living in Hor Al Anz as a car owner can be a major nightmare. A typical market area this, all the streets are lined with shops and small buildings, most of which were built when landlords were hardly aware of the term "underground parking".
Till about four months ago, residents and shop owners could park their cars in a huge "kuchha parking" (open muddy area) that could accommodate at least 500 cars. One fine day, this parking facility was closed.
Workers fixing the poles that would cordon the area informed residents that it was being converted into a paid parking facility. A few days later they were seen fixing poles and chains around all the other three or four neighbouring vacant muddy areas in the nearby plots too.
But the funny part is that even today it remains fenced with not a sign of any further progress.
What do the 1,000 odd cars that park there regularly do then?
At the end of a tiring day every night, I wander like a ghost in and around the streets searching for a place for my car to rest. Like me, there are others too wandering, leading to traffic snarls.
Pushed out
Consoling myself that walking is good for health, I finally decided to park far away from my home, in a street that was lined with villas. Soon I was pushed out from there. Many residents who live in those villas started blocking the spaces with cement blocks and road dividers.
The blocks are kept with such authority that it looks like the person has bought that slot for himself.
One day I found a note placed on my wiper which read, "Last day you park here. Leave this area. Tank you." I wondered whether the spelling error was deliberate.
Unable to identify any other place, I parked a little away from the place that got me the threatening note. But as soon as I parked there, a boy came out of nowhere and told me that the parking slot was reserved for his father, who supposedly was employed with the police. I brushed aside his threat and parked there, only to find my tyres deflated the next day.
It is indeed a pitiable situation for my car, my constant companion that has to struggle so much for a space to rest at night. And of course, the man who cleans my car has all the reasons not to do it regularly under the pretext that the car is away from his operational limits!
Although the fenced area is still not operational, the RTA inspectors are very prompt in fining all cars parked on the pavement. "The inspector wrote out the fine with a smile, as if telling me that I had fallen into his trap which had been made by blocking all the parking slots," remarked one offender.
As of now, some of the poles have been forcibly removed to open up small slots. Elsewhere, chains joining the poles have been broken.
To add to the discomfort, all buildings in the area that were earlier permitted only single stories, are now adding one more floor. If not anything, it will surely ensure that I will have many more friends wandering along with me at night.