How to drive in the city without losing your sanity...2

The horrifying incident of road rage in yesterday’s TOI (http://bit.ly/5fCbnu) has shaken me out of my slumber and compelled me to complete Part 2 of my post on the subject. Here are tips 3, 4 and 5 :


3. Refuse to get angry – Probably the most difficult of them all, but not impossible. The most compelling reason to not get angry is based on this simple question : If you get angry, who is the suffering? You or the other driver? She (I am just being politically correct!) has cut your lane and gone, blissfully unaware of your fuming state and expletives. Yes, but how does one control oneself?

All you need to do is to change your perspective. Truth is that you can control your reaction as long as you change your thinking. Let me demonstrate : what would be your reaction if you were standing in a crowded bus for the last half hour on a hot, sweaty afternoon – and someone behind keeps poking you with some stick of sorts.... I guess you would turn angrily and give that person a piece of your mind! Right? What if, you turn and find its a blind man with a stick trying to get ahead? Suddenly you are not angry anymore and you quietly move out of the way. Same discomfort in both cases, but totally different reactions. You regulated your response in the second case. So it is possible to control your reaction. You just have to think differently. Lets say a vehicle cuts your lane - Firstly, accept that the errant driver is ignorant and will meet her fate (refer Tip 1 – Have faith in Darwin). Second, think that the other driver is in a terrible hurry because of some emergency. Wouldn’t you give her way if you knew there was a patient in the car requiring to reach an hospital asap? So think that! If that too doesn’t work.... take a deep breath and let it go!

4. A dash of humour – You find a slow moving truck in your lane (right most) who refuses to give you side to overtake. Or you are stuck in a jam that threatens to put you 30 min behind schedule. Or some utility company has again dug up the roads and slowed down the traffic! Vexing situations that can drive you insane. Do just that – take a mad look at each of these situations – search for something funny. The message behind the truck for instance. Imagine the truck being driven by Dubya Bush! Verbalise the conversation that passengers are having in the car across yours – a plot to jam the coffee machines across the world and sell cutting chai! Think of George Mikes’ famous piece on ‘How to stop road traffic’ (BTW, if anyone of you have this text, please let me know). Keep a stock of some funny songs (One version of Living Doll by Cliff and Shadows always brings up a smile) or the podcast of BBC 4’s Friday Night Comedy Show. Recall scenes of your favourite comedy movie – Imagine Steve Martin in Pink Panther damaging a few cars around you and then reporting to you ‘Thee area eez zecured’ 

5. Plan your trip – In most cases, we know in advance our travel schedule. Be conservative in planning the time required for travel. The average speed of travel in Mumbai is 23 kmph. During rush hour it comes down to 15 kmph. Then visualise the journey and estimate the number of bottlenecks on the way – add 5 min for each bottleneck. Plan to reach 10 min before time at your destination. All this will ensure that you have adequate time to cover the distance and you don’t need to fret and fume at the slow traffic. Dont worry if you reach v early at the destination – in these times of blackberrys and laptops, you can catch up with some work anywhere.

Part 1 of this article is at http://bit.ly/6TKHeK . If you have more tips to cope with the pressures of city driving, please add to the above

Toll Charges and Confectionery Sales

These days, when you go on long drives you will invariably encounter a few, if not several, toll booths. In most cases, you dont mind paying the tab as it ensures a better ride for the stretch. There are of course stretches which make you wonder whether you are paying for building the road or for a cross-country experience complete with obstacles! But that is the matter for another post. This post concerns amount of toll charges and a possible explanation for their being an odd combination of numerals. Ever wonder why a toll charge is Rs. 84 instead of a rounded figure like 80 or 85. So while you dont mind paying the toll, what bugs you is the exercise of hunting for the right change and waiting in the line of vehicles while the toll collectors goes through his duties. Just look at the toll charges on the Mumbai-Pune Express way (inset picture) and you wonder why would anyone keep such odd numbers as the toll charges.

I dont think a bus would mind paying Rs. 250 instead of Rs. 247 OR the state would lose much money by collecting Rs. 410 instead of Rs. 411?! So then why? I have three possible explanations:

1. The toll collecting firm is bitten by the numerology bug. So by some strange calculation, 410 would have been unlucky and the traffic from Mumbai to Pune would have dropped 20%

2. The ministry for education realised that Indians are losing their image of being mathematical geniuses, and decided to tune up our brains by ensuring we did intricate calculations to get our right change back

3. Confectionery companies found this great way to beat the slowdown. So the toll booth hand out candies and mints instead of change. Everytime there is a shortfall in the budget, they promptly increase the number of odd digits in the toll charges across the country! (Imagine the surprise on the toll collectors face as my driver handed back the same chocolate on the return journey in place of the change!)

Do write back on which of the above is the main reason, or if you have any other explanation.