Most times it’s ghastly driving to office at the peak of the Delhi summer. At the end of the 16 kilometres (which can translate into anywhere between 45 and 80 minutes, depending on how many cars have been bumper-kissing along the route I take, and how antagonistic their drivers are) I feel like I’ve lost 40 per cent of my body weight in sweat and aged a 100 years in the process. Today was different; I wouldn’t have minded one bit if I had to travel to another city. The weather was lovely (save for a spell of much-too-heavy rain near the Moolchand flyover) and there were R D Burman specials on radio channels (today being the great man’s birth anniversary).
When the weather is good, the traffic always seems much better behaved than normal. People even stick to their lanes, don’t honk all that much and there are hardly any traffic jams (except for waterlogging-induced ones). Interesting. And sad, because these are the days I wouldn’t mind being stuck on the road for hours. ("Piya tu ab toh aaja" was being played for the third time when I had to switch the stereo off because I’d reached office.)
I keep my ipod handy for the 1 hour drive to work and back.
ReplyDeleteEvery day is an RD burman, Mukesh and Kishore special for me.
I personally like driving in rainy weather, because the rainclouds in virginia are so beatiful (yeah people tell me i'm weird) but on a normal sunny day here sometimes you can spot 3 or 4 planes in the horizon on the approach to dulles airport.
Traffic jams are worse here, and usually during peak hours i will pass 3 or 4 cars on the side of the highway or blocking the damn road with the drivers arguing with a cop.
And the drivers are such a-holes, much worse than the drivers in Miami, if that is possible.
Although nobody would ever believe me, but the weather is a critical factor in good driving. In other parts of the world, where air-conditioning and automatic transmission are the norm, you will find much better behaved drivers. I wish somebody would do a study on this. Ah well.
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