Just driving to work

Just driving to work

I drive very little. Everyday it is just the 10-minute drive to work and back, and on Sundays it to the weekly vegetable market.

The distance to work is not a 10-minute drive, but it takes 10 minutes for me to reach the factory. It is only a two-lane highway. The first hurdle is getting into the main road from the quarters where I live. At 8.20 a.m. it is the busiest time as the school, college and factory buses all ply at this time. And the office goers in two-wheelers also race against time to reach their work place before 8.30.

We have our Vedavalli Vidyalaya school bus stop on the left of the driveway. On the right most of the time there would be a lorry parked of a transport company next door, blocking my view of the on-coming traffic from that side. On both sides of the driveway children, parents and teachers wait for the school bus to arrive. Some parents come to drop their children by two-wheelers and cars and stop right in front of the driveway.

The entry to the road from the driveway is at a slight elevation. Getting up and waiting for a clearance in the road is the first step. And then I look on all the sides for the right opportunity to enter into the road. Most of the time I would wonder did I see that cycle coming, or the person about to cross the road? Would the two-wheeler slow down enough for me to make it across the road?

After about 200 meters there is a T-junction to the right. Just at the junction there are public transport bus stops on either side of the road. Pedestrians – young, old, disabled - would be crossing where there is no such thing as a pedestrian crossing and the pedestrians have no right of way. There would also be a cow, a calf and few stray dogs crossing with the cars, two-wheelers and cyclist entering the main road from the T-junction, where everybody has the ‘Right of way’!! You can imagine the confusion.

From both the sides drivers try to use the available space between the parked buses and the aggressive ones, who have their headlights on usually push through. This practise of turning the headlights on during the day is to indicate to the road user that 'I am going to use your side of the road, you better move away', is unique to India. And the two-wheelers, unafraid, over take very close to me on the right and left.

The famous Mario Miranda, the cartoonist of the Illustrated Weekly of India would be able to do this junction with full satisfaction.

After I get through this hurdle, and drive further with the vans (taking the girls to work in the shoe companies) chasing me with their incessant ‘give way, give way, I am in a hurry’ horn, within the next 500 meters, is the most dangerous intersection. The main road turns left. But I have to take the straight road, cutting across the main road traffic.

Again there are public transport bus stops on either side of the road just at that junction. Sometimes there is absolutely no visibility of the oncoming vehicles. When I wait, others over take me on either side. After that when I cautiously cross, avoiding the people alighting from the bus crossing the road diagonally, maneuvering the sudden dip in the road between the main road and the service road (the main road gets more topping and hence at a higher level) go over the four speed breakers (they are for slowing down the vehicles entering the highway) and then I shift to 3rd gear and relax a little bit letting whoever wants to overtake me.

Today I was pretty relaxed driving down to work and was able to just observe all these and accept it as a way of life in India. The meditation I have been practicing for the past couple of months really helps.