10 tips to get the most out of road rage

For those residing in/traveling to/driving in Pune, some tips:

1) AVOID Meru cabs in Pune.  (If you are from Bangalore, this particularly applies to you.)  15 minutes before the scheduled time, the driver will call and tell you that he can't pick you up and will refer you to some other driver, who in turn will tell you that it will take him "at least" an hour to reach you.  You will then receive a text message that your trip has been completed.

2) Feel free to make an online complaint to Meru: not sure if it will have any effect, but helpful to get anger out of your system.

3) If there is no option but to drive yourself to drop someone at night, watch out for speed breakers (A new speed breaker comes up every day on Baner and Link Roads)

4) If you are driving slowly on the left, do not get intimidated by a****les who will honk to overtake you: ignore them. They can move to the right lane.

5) If you are on the right lane, drive like an a***le yourself, honk and scare away the two wheelers and auto rickshaw drivers.

6) On heavily crowded roads, be prepared to meet auto and two-wheeler-walas who will drive right into your car from the wrong side and expect you to back up or turn right when there is clearly no space.  If they show attitude, forget feminine grace and hurl the choicest of abuses at them (Hat Tip: learn some swear words in Marathi.)

7) Don't feel bad if the concerned driver did not hear you. Again, you at least managed to get bottled-up anger out of your system.  Trust me, no. 6 works better than Yogic techniques.

8) If your car or your life matters to you at all, on the way back from the airport, keep to the extreme left because the oncoming drivers headed to airport would be running late and freely crossing over to your side of the road to get ahead [I once drove back a Canadian friend from the airport and he almost went mad because of this].

9) After reaching home, just be thankful that you are safe and in one piece.  Show off your manufactured outrage on social media: twitter, fb, blogger, wordpress, whatever's your poison.

10) Finally, blame Modi.

The "drive" to move

My resignation from N1 was approved last week.  I will be moving in December after finishing my semester responsibilities here.  So, from time to time, I will write about preparations for the upcoming move.

This week, I was back home for a few days to celebrate the festive season.  I met some friends and relatives, who are happy about the upcoming move to New1 city and have generously offered congratulatory best wishes and lots of well meant advice.  Most of what they say now is exactly what they said two years ago when I was moving to N1.  For example,

"You will enjoy the intellectual/cultural atmosphere at N1 city," 

"we will certainly visit you there," 

"the traffic is bad," 

"you should buy a car and learn driving"

and, of course, the classic

"We know so and so over there.  Here is their phone number.  You must get in touch with them.  They are verrrrrrry nice people."

None of the above, except the bad traffic, came to pass.  I never really got a chance to enjoy the cultural atmosphere of N1 city, my relatives never visited me, I did not buy a car and I certainly never bothered to contact the people whose phone numbers were given to me.  Not that I missed any of the above, but I do find it amusing that the above comments are being repeated verbatim!

But, one advice that I am taking very seriously this time is that of buying a car and learning to drive.

Ideally, I would love to just keep a bicycle and not have to worry about car maintenance, heavy traffic , parking etc.  I managed fairly well with a bicycle at my postdoc locations and at N1, but this does not seem feasible at New1 city.

Strictly speaking, one could manage without a car there, but having one does present many advantages.  For example, if needed, I can stay in the department till late to finish any important work without having to worry about safety issues and keeping a car does provide an extra degree of freedom for shopping, traveling etc.

I learnt driving as soon as I turned 18 and was very fond of it.  But, I lost touch after I went to North America.  This week, my father has been giving me lessons every morning.  It seems that just like cycling and swimming, one does not really forget driving.  However, my main challenge has been to overcome the initial hesitation.
As an 18 year old, I was indestructible - no amount of traffic and no fear of damaging my (father's) car bothered me.   But, I am paranoid right now [1].  The roads are practically empty in the morning, but it took me two days to even try driving at 3rd gear or above.  Also, I will need some serious practice before I can be confident about parking [in fact, I find parking much harder than driving properly].

My plan is to take some driving lessons again after I move to New1 city, even though my father feels it is not necessary.  Some of my colleagues  at New1 have suggested some reliable teachers.

The next question is to decide which model.  I am thinking of a Hyundai i10 sportz.
i10 seems to be a favourite with most of my colleagues and this model has an added advantage of automatic gears [2].  But, some of my friends think that once I overcome my initial fears and get more driving practice, I might not care so much for automatic gears.  So, I am still giving this more thought.

But, each time, I start to think about cars and driving, my first inclination is to think of reasons not to buy a car and strategies to manage comfortably without one.   Sadly, this time, I have no option but to overcome this fear!


Comments/tips/driving stories are most welcome!




[1] To begin with, this time, I am practicing on my brother's car, and not my father's good old Maruti 800.  That itself is a scary proposition!

[2] The other day, my sister-in-law joked that I need not fear driving as driving a car with automatic gears is as easy as driving a toy car at Appu Ghar.