The Road ‘NOT’ to be taken

- Hari

In the hustle & bustle of urban Indian life, one has to always negotiate with narrow lanes, haphazard parking, over speeding vehicles & the worst traffic sense of our nuisance, sorry, citizens. If this has to be done during peak hours, where the offices are located elsewhere in the planet, it cost us dearly in terms of health bills. It happened during such peak time when I was returning from my parent’s house located near Choolaimedu (Chennai) driving straight to office. The lane heading to the main road was just 15 feet wide with pedestrians, two/four wheelers, heavy commercial vehicles, cyclist all sharing the same road space, was in a complete mess.

I accelerated at every possible moment, almost hitting the pedestrian who suddenly poked from a corner so mercilessly. An auto was heading straight towards me, took a sudden turn which if not done in a ‘nano second’ would have hit my bonnet. A middle aged, bald headed helmet less gentleman, was turning his head some 30 to 45 degrees signaling a right turn. I think he always forget to use his indicators. But having spent more than ‘one third’ of my estimated lifetime in India, i'm somehow used to all these forms of driving.

I noticed a two wheeler rider thro my car’s ‘rear view mirror’, a near replica of Chris Pfizer, driving fast so dangerously. The Indian ego of not letting the fellow Indians to overtake you hit my senses and I speeded up my car. In the first 2 sharp blind curves, I succeeded. Then I encountered a huge speed breaker where I had to reduce the speed. This guy came near me & was about to begin the conversation. I did not want to let him speak out & wanted to yell at him first, as he was over-speeding. (Without realizing that I was equally bad) His body language was calm, subtle & he politely told me to close my car door properly! I realized I was driving the car without locking the door & who knows, I would have been thrown out of the vehicle on the previous sharp curves!

I felt ashamed at my own act. Why did I drive so recklessly? What makes me so impatient & why such a preconceived notion on that biker? We talk about business etiquette, why don’t we have the road etiquette? We don’t follow road rules & if someone does, we laugh at it. We honk without realizing it as a ‘indiscipline’ act. Everybody has some urgency & in the mad rush to come first, we have completely lost our tolerance. Unfortunately we are ruled by short sighted, corrupt politicians. Unfortunately, all our laws are never implemented in true spirits. After all, our responsible act makes a difference! Don’t they?

- Hariraam