drivin' me nuts.!

you are driving one morning to work. nice weather, relatively low traffic. 'i'm finally going to reach well before time', you think to yourself. just at that moment, a speeding cab whizzes to your left, suddenly cuts you without a signal or warning. you snarl, and then immediately think that it feels like a really great day, full of positives, so you wouldnt want to ruin it by getting into a foul mood over a crazy driver. you near a signal, nearing a car in the next lane, who appears to be somehow drifting towards your lane. you honk lightly. you think he's getting back into his lane but just as you're real close to his car, he honks back and swerves in your direction. your brakes screech the car to a halt, and your still wondering if that actually happened. Grrrr..!! that does it. that driver's going down, you tell yourself, as you floor the accelerator and veer into the last lane and align yourself in perfect striking position. then you suddenly realize that you've rattled the nerves of that middle-aged lady whose trembling hands just about managed to swerve out of the way of your car screaming through. so you slow down, and try and get back your cool. though its not happening. the music playing doesnt seem to work its magic either. you get to work, your mind imagining you perhaps strangling the driver who dared to cut you.

i'm sure you can relate to at least most of that.

i got my driving license sometime in 2001 i think, though i’ve been crazy about driving well before i could pronounce “car”. As a toddler, i’d sit on my dad’s lap while he’d drive, and i’d hold the steering and pretend to drive.

then, when i was halfway through school, i’d change gears on my relative’s jeep, while the driver drove and took care of the foot pedals.

anyway, almost soon after i learnt how to drive, i came to realize that the way people drive has a strong correlation to their personality and behaviour patterns, and also the peculiarity of people in that region.

for instance, in Mumbai (India), where i’ve driven the most; cars on the road tend to make maximum use of the road. three lanes could accommodate upto 5 rows of cars and still have place for a bike with saddle bags on either side to smoothly ride through.

now while i say this after driving/ observing only certain parts of India, am sure if anyone paid enough attention, a pattern would emerge for the population at different locations, across the world.

a foreigner visiting India had observed that Indians, while driving, make full use of the road. so if there were no road dividers, cars would "expand" to the opposite side of the road as long as there was no on-coming traffic, and then get back into their side of the road while some vehicles whizzed past from the opposite direction, and then get back to using part of the opposite side again. talk about adjusting to the surroundings.!

i noticed another interesting habit in the town of Mangalore, and in the city of Bangalore, and am quite sure it must be highly prevalent. if one wanted to turn right at a crossroads which had a small circular garden or something similar at the centre, they would normally be expected to drive around the circle in a clockwise direction to get to that particular turn. however, most of our great people would instead find the shortest path... making the right turn just before the circle...i mean who cares if you're staring at a bunch of alarmed drivers coming head-on.

that reminded me of this joke i read sometime back. a man is driving on NH1 when his wife calls him. "darling, be careful", she says frantically, "i just heard on the radio that there's a madman on NH1 driving in the wrong direction. Please be careful." Her husband replies, with a hollow laugh, "ur damn right about that, but its not one madman, but hundreds of them."

another strange habit, associated with how we are in our corporate worlds, at home or in our social circles, is how people react when someone else tries overtaking them. people will be driving at their comfortable 25 kmph, with the car in front of them at a distance enough to fit an A380 (Airbus) in between the two. now you are somewhere between these two cars, in the next lane, and have turned on your indicator to signal you'd be moving in between the two cars. soon as you've given the indicator, the speed of the car thats behind in the next lane, suddenly jumps from 25 to 60 kmph, while he desperately tries to keep you from getting into the lane in front of him. you barely manage to save scratches on your car, wondering if the driver left his senses back home that morning. its very similar to the behaviour of crabs in a bucket. even if they arent trying to get out, they'll do everything they can to prevent others from getting out.if you've driven in India long enough, you'd realize that around 85% of the people dont use the indicators while changing lanes.

i assume its for one of two reasons; first being, 'why bother signalling, if the other driver loves his car, he'll slow down anyway', or, because he/ she's dead sure the car behind will speed up, so instead, its better to suddenly cut lanes while no one's expecting it.

nothing's more horrifying that a car parked on the side of the road suddenly jumps into your lane, right in front of you while ur doing 60kmph on what appeared to be an empty lane till then.

ok, maybe that's not horrifying enough. try this instead. you got that same parked car, or cab, suddenly taking off from being parked in the lane on the extreme left, going from 0-30, trying to dart into first lane to make it to the U-turn at the signal right there. these drivers either expect everyone else to be driving at 20kmph with a foot ready on the brakes; or they consider themselves immortal. And you thought Milla Jovovich had a hard time in Resident Evil.

all these trends/ characteristics associate closely with what indians have been known to be like. now i'm not at all generalizing, and while i do take pride in being an Indian, am just trying to point out some habits/ behaviours associated with us, that we must strive to change.

and while your at it, try get hold of the book "Games Indians Play - Why We Are the Way We Are" by V. Raghunathan, to get some more perspective on the general attitude.

anyway, i'll get back to what i was talking about (i tend to deviate from topic quite easily).

Indians (me obviously included), are always in a rush to get somewhere. So much so, that we tend to cross the zebra crossing, or stop over the crossing, while waiting at a signal. every second counts, i suppose. the closer you are to the starting line, the quicker you can leave, when you see the green light. then it doesnt matter if you continue to drive at 25 kmph in fast lane from there on. we'd still prefer to be right there, first car to move, when the light goes green.

i've seen cars literally squeeze through gaps between cars, drive halfway up the sidewalk, or even go over to the other side of the road, only to be the first car up front, at a signal light. however, after the lights turn, somehow, they dont seem to be getting even close to the speed limit of 50 kmph. they're driving at their pace, with not a care in the world, even at 9 am on a weekday. brings me to wonder why then, do they take all the effort to get to the front row.

now this one absolutely takes the cake when it comes to driving in India.

recollect i mentioned somewhere above, about how cars try to get to as much in front as possible, while waiting at a signal.

if you look around, especially in mumbai (thats where i live and am most familiar with people's ridiculous driving habits), there's something that beats even this.

some people end up going so far ahead at a signal, that the signal is actually behind them. i mean, "what the ****!!". so when the lights go green, they pretty much depend on a car behind to honk, to let them know that they can move. so if the cars behind werent in a hurry, you could have cars waiting at a green signal for as long as 10 seconds, before they start moving. believe me, its a hilarious sight.

imagine something like that happening in Formula 1. hehehh... say an F1 driver starting the race at pole position, more than eager to win, drives the car past the start lights.

now all i can do is hope we all drive a little more responsibly, and be a little more accommodating, on the road, at work, at home, everywhere.