Rajasthan family turns expressway into picnic spot, sits down for lunch on road

A video of a family eating a meal on a Rajasthan expressway has gone viral online. The clip has drawn criticism over civic sense and the use of public infrastructure.A family picnic on a Rajasthan expressway has gone viral. (Photos: Instagram/@shiv_dad)A huge family turned a newly inaugurated Rajasthan expressway into an unlikely picnic spot, sitting in the middle of the road with plates of food as relatives served them.The video was shared on Instagram by user Shiv Maheshwari and shows multiple members of a large family gathered on an expressway for a meal. Seated together on the road, they can be seen with plates piled with food in front of them, while other family members move around serving the diners.An inline text on the video joked about the sheer size of the gathering, suggesting that when the entire family sits down together for a meal, it feels like a bhandara (community feast).The scene, however, did not amuse everyone who came across it. Watch the video here:The video soon made its way to X, where users criticised the family for treating public infrastructure as a private picnic space. One user described it as an example of people taking pride in behaviour that shows blatant disregard for basic civic sense and public property. The criticism was not limited to the decision to sit on the expressway. Some users also raised concerns about the message such behaviour sends about littering and maintaining public spaces.One X user pointed out that there is a common attitude that cleaning public places is someone else’s responsibility simply because people are paid to do it. The argument was that such thinking encourages people to litter freely, assuming that sanitation workers will eventually clean up after them.The family’s large gathering may have been intended as a display of togetherness, but the location quickly became the focus of the conversation. A road designed for moving vehicles had instead been turned into a makeshift dining area, with people sitting directly in the carriageway and food being served around them.While family gatherings and community meals are hardly unusual in India, the viral video has renewed a familiar debate about where personal celebrations end and civic responsibility begins.The internet’s reaction was largely critical, with many users questioning why public infrastructure is sometimes treated as an extension of private space.- EndsPublished By: Srimoyee ChowdhuryPublished On: Aug 31, 2026 09:27 IST