Why Road rage?

I live in a city, where bikes is one of the most common modes of transportation. There are all kinds of people on the roads, every person out there has his own way of living, his own policies in life and his own philosophies, but there is one very common thing which binds us all. Its not our Indianness, its not our religion but the road rage.

Travelling on these roads is nothing less than a war, and we are a part of it. You never know when a car having the soul of a bike zips in from the wrong side of the road, or a PMT possessed by a ghost of a cycle overtakes you, and then there are possessed souls on the bikes which create enough ruckus on the bike and off it too... the list is endless!!!

Now, our nation was always a peace loving nation, then why this kind of a behaviour. I stayed in the Gulf for years before I came to India. The gulf has a large Indian community and the Indian community there prides itself in saying that they are the safest drivers, and thats when I made an opinion about driving in India. Well when reality struck, it struk hard( ouch!!!). The drive from Mumbai to my hometown was horrifying to say the least.

Its been 5 years now since that ride and the most rough of all rides seem smooth to me now. I took up the task to find out why this situation exists in India. Well lets take a few examples, rather a few situations which I am sure we all would have encountered atleast once:

Picture this, you are driving ur scooty and you give the right side indicator, you here a huge horn, a bike wallah overtakes you, slows down and stares!( if only looks could kill).

Now picture this, you are standing at a signal and your bike tire, just touched another bike, the guy/ gal on the other bike turns and throws an explitive at you, and you wonder what happened?

The scenarios are endless and I am sure each and everyone of you have a story to tell, but getting back to my question? why does this happen? how do peace loving people turn into these monsters?

I think I have one of the reasons, and that is the feudal system which once existed in our country. We got so used to the system that we still try and find it in our everyday lives. We try to find a reason why we are superior to the other one on the road right besides me. In ancient India, all you had to do was ask the caste. Today what do we do?, will the quality of our vehicles be used?, or their size? or may be our own aggression, to put us in a different class altogether? .I remember reading in 'the white tiger' that everything was smooth as long as the caste system was existent in India, the day the British decided to abolish it, everything went wrong, as if all the cattle has been let loose in a green farm. I wonder, had the British not abolished the caste system, there would have been no Road Rage?, lets hope establishing caste system all over again is not the solution to this.

Another reason for road rage is, our intolerance. We are a peaceful lot but an intolerant one. We do not accept languages from different regions, we do not accept others culture,

" Don't you know? Ours culture is much more superior than that?"

This is the prime example of our intolerance, forget western influences, even regional influences are scorned by. It is this fake pride which makes us act in this weird way. We carry this fake pride and we go to any lengths to defend it.

Inefficent traffic laws and police doesnt help either. Because of the state of lawlesness on the road, justice is served to the one with more muscle power ( I am contradicting myself now...I think i said we were peaceful people....).

The only way to survive is to live by the sword other wise it is you who would be taken advantage of on this mean and evil road

But I must ask, is it worth? definitely no. Have we even sat down and ever thought, what effect this road rage can have...how bad can nursing your fake egos could be...dont we realize in this some one definitely gets hurt!!...I must tell you this small incident.

I am sure all my friends know that I worked at a call center for a year. The cab rides always were eventful. I still remember the drivers taking abuses even if it wasnt their mistake, coz it is a common belief that they drive rashly, and If a cab is to be involved in an accident, it has to be the cab drivers fault. This incident was one of those. I remember, I was on my way back home in the cab, when an old, respectable man driving a santro tried to overtake the cab. Well my cab driver was a young lad, of what I got to know about him, he was the sole provider of his family. Getting back to the road, well he did not give him the side and this infuriated the old respectable man and he pushed our cab to the side of the road and asked the driver to step out. He demanded to see his license.

I asked him what was wrong and he replied 'how dare he not give me side like this, especially when I was so close to overtake him, it could have been dangerous'

I tried to calm him down by saying that there was a car on the side, but it dint calm him down and he went on to slap the lad very hard. That calmed him down!! he sat in his car and drove with pride!

The lad sat in the cab to drive me, I wanted to talk to him , but tears kept flowing down his eyes and in a few days the cab had a different driver. I dont know what he is doing now..But I know that he will remember this, this has affected him deeply

See it is a misconception that road rage is because of the uneducated, because I have always been shouted upon by people wearing suits or an Louis phillipe from their cars for no reason. I remember so many incidents when it was easily my mistake but an uneducated man, just let me go with a smile. I am not typecasting people. All I am trying to say is mistakes can be committed by anyone on the road, but sometimes its the way we react that hurts more ....