Ahimsa propagated by rickshaw drivers

I got my driving license in 2000 and being one of those who simply love driving, I used to take every opportunity to get behind the wheel. When the family went out, I was the one driving always. In those days, I was this very hot headed youth, losing my cool at the drop of a hat.

That is perhaps the worst trait to have when you drive in India. People say that Bombay has the most disciplined traffic in the country, but even that can harrow the best of drivers. For some reason, the slowest drivers on the road believe it is their duty to force everyone to drive at their pace. They achieve this by a most ingenious method: driving with both halves of the vehicle in different lanes. The fast lane invariably has the slowest vehicles. It is enough to drive you round the bend!!! Being the short tempered person I was, I used to be screaming at virtually every auto driver on the road.

I'm sure everyone who drives has encountered the magic of the auto drivers at some time or the other. On the fast lane, they just decide to take U-turns when it pleases them, without any indication to the guy driving behind them. Of course, we are expected to anticipate it. Rather slow, aren't we?? On a congested road, they will just stop in the middle of the road to take in passengers. Of course, the guy behind has all the time in the world and is never in a hurry. Not even if he is running late for an important meeting. Another amazing ability auto drivers have is the ease with which they can ignore the horn or the signals of the guy behind. The guy at the back would be pulling his hair out in frustration, but our man will keep ambling along, blissfully unaware of how he is frustrating the life out of someone. And for God's sake, when the left side of the road is choc-a-block with vehicles, why would any sane man drive on the right side and block the traffic in the opposite direction as well???

It seems to me that the guiding philosophy for auto drivers is - 'If I see enough space to get my front wheel through, it is the headache of the guy behind me after that'.

Left to me, I'd have probably shot half the auto drivers in the city. However, there is one thing I need to be grateful to them for - teaching me the virtue of patience. I figured out that I was only harming myself by losing my temper at these people. Over a period of time, I've slowly learnt not to get angry when the guy ahead of me is doing all he can to make me pull my hair out!!! I must admit that I still do lose it at times, but by and large, my swearing and screaming has come down dramatically over the past couple of years. Some more years of driving will perhaps teach me the Gandhian philosophy of non-violence. I wonder if it was an auto driver who taught Gandhji the virtue of ahimsa!!!