Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Edge of the Seat Thriller

If you think that this post is about some thriller movie that I have seen recently, you are mistaken. The heading reflects how I feel each day when I drive my new car out to drive to office and back. It has been couple of weeks since I got my new car, a Chevrolet Spark. Though car is pretty good to drive, driving in the chennai traffic is like riding a bumper car.

I had been driving car for the past couple of years, but this is the first time I drove in chennai. I think only another driver can understand the plight of the a driver in chennai, or for that matter anywhere in India. Some of the things that I noticed which makes a typical Indian car driver

1. Jumps signals.
2. Jumps lanes.
3. Rushes towards your left side in the signal and take a diagonal turn and park right in front of you.
4. Keep honking if someone is ahead of you.
5. Never give way to an ambulance, and speed up like anything as if you are an escort.

And the worst is the bikers. I am biker myslef and I have driven the same way as anyone is driving today. Only when I sit in the driver's seat that I see how irritating the bikers are when they whiz past you from your left side or when they squeeze in a small space between your car and the road divider. I have been in to couple of accidents when I was riding a bike - which was no mistake of the car driver. When ever I see a bike in the rear view, those accidents come to my mind and makes me nervous.

But I understand I would be driving fine until I have a tiny fear in my mind about driving in the city. If I ever overcome that fear factor, I am sure that would be day my car would get it first scratch.