The last few days I have decided old age has caught up with me... I have a problem with the way people drive. I have a problem with the display of bad attitude. I have a problem with the lack of civic sense and I definitely have a problem with the lack of civility.... ok ... I have a problem with a lot things happening around me! Yesterday all I was doing was desperately attempting to drive from Versova to Santacruz in a somewhat straight line as the roads go. But no... the traffic had other plans for me. I was pushed into corners. Dabaoed as is said in Bombay (yeah Bombay not Mumbai) ... shoved... abused... called "bloody woman driver"... now I am one of those women drivers who (sorry) curse inside the car "bloody woman driver" ... I cant stand the pathetic sorry manner that women insist on driving in as if their carefully manicured finger nails will break if they change the right gear or give the correct indicator! But then this post is not about women drivers. Its about the fact that 80 % of "drivers" on the roads today are from the cow belt. 15 % are two wheeler drivers and the rest are just plain crazy!!!!
So... the cow belt drivers .. some of whom wouldn't get a licence to steer a bullock cart in their homeland are now driving V6 and V8 engines. The "saab" doesnt care because either "saab" cant drive or doesn't want to drive and is probably slightly more literate than the driver! As a result ... cow belt rules, manners, civic sense or the lack of it etc etc is free flowing like Tata namak on the streets of suburban Bombay! I say that because willy nilly I have seen much better and restrictive driving south of Mahim Causeway. I have also noticed the policing is better their. Maybe because Balasaheb's and Raj Bhau's offices are situated closer to getting your arse kicked if you are an out of step or line bhaiyya! I dont know what it is... but I know that for someone who has been driving on the streets of Bombay for 30 years I have seen road manners change and how! There are times when I don't recognise this to be the city I have lived all my life in!
Then there are the snotty badly brought up badly behaved teenagers. The other day one of the same breed tossed a Coke paper container out of a moving auto splat on the road! Her father's servant is going to clean the roads???? So I stopped for a few seconds... carefully with some newspaper, which was handy in the car, picked up the offending cup and drove behind the auto, caught up with it... handed the cup to her and said in my sweetest manner "hey sweetie, you dropped this"! She says oh! I say go home and put it in your garbage can... do you pay taxes? NO... I do... and I am not your mother to clean up after you!
But we have drifted... So at the end all one can say the cribbing will go on... until I find a "kaity" and some nice round pebbles and shoot the bloody buggers at any available body part visible from where I can see it!
So... the cow belt drivers .. some of whom wouldn't get a licence to steer a bullock cart in their homeland are now driving V6 and V8 engines. The "saab" doesnt care because either "saab" cant drive or doesn't want to drive and is probably slightly more literate than the driver! As a result ... cow belt rules, manners, civic sense or the lack of it etc etc is free flowing like Tata namak on the streets of suburban Bombay! I say that because willy nilly I have seen much better and restrictive driving south of Mahim Causeway. I have also noticed the policing is better their. Maybe because Balasaheb's and Raj Bhau's offices are situated closer to getting your arse kicked if you are an out of step or line bhaiyya! I dont know what it is... but I know that for someone who has been driving on the streets of Bombay for 30 years I have seen road manners change and how! There are times when I don't recognise this to be the city I have lived all my life in!
Then there are the snotty badly brought up badly behaved teenagers. The other day one of the same breed tossed a Coke paper container out of a moving auto splat on the road! Her father's servant is going to clean the roads???? So I stopped for a few seconds... carefully with some newspaper, which was handy in the car, picked up the offending cup and drove behind the auto, caught up with it... handed the cup to her and said in my sweetest manner "hey sweetie, you dropped this"! She says oh! I say go home and put it in your garbage can... do you pay taxes? NO... I do... and I am not your mother to clean up after you!
But we have drifted... So at the end all one can say the cribbing will go on... until I find a "kaity" and some nice round pebbles and shoot the bloody buggers at any available body part visible from where I can see it!
What is the topic of the next post? Rude rickshaw-wallas? You must have multiple stories to tell:-)
ReplyDeletehahahahaha .... watch this space.... :)
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