Traffic in Pune is generally quite lawless and people are willfully blind towards the basics of driving. On purpose. To get ahead. To save time. For what...? I don't know. To go where? I don't know... But that's a story for another day.
While driving home the other day, I encountered two helmetless lads in their early twenties with one of those typical hairstyle newly minted college kids have these days, riding a KTM bike with what I guessed was not a care in the world. They were cutting across traffic between lanes trying to snake their way between multiple rows of cars any concern for their their life and limbs. Yes, one does feel invincible in their twenties. But I was worried for them... Can't they see? They have eyes and two rear view mirrors, don't they? Yes, they do... but the angle of those rear view mirrors were completely wrong... and suspiciously familiar!
I was instantly taken back to my time in Auroville in 2006. I lived some distance away from my workplace and so I had to rent a 50CC moped to ferry myself around the place. My friends from Pune - two cycle riding boys who worked in other nearby offices sometimes borrowed my bike to run errands. I come from the cantonment discipline, so I always adjust my rear view mirrors... so did these two... but not in the same way as I did.
Everytime I got my bike back from them and sat on it, the only thing I would see in the rear view mirrors was... my own face. In both mirrors!
So these two boys had been checking out their face and hair in the mirror while riding their bikes. They were then the same age as those KTM riding boys were now... And the rear view mirrors... suspiciously in the same angle as when I got my moped back from the boys.
And I thought... "Yea, that's why they can't see traffic... they're busy seeing themselves!"
And they say women are vain.
No comments:
Post a Comment