Run with the wind and walk with a child

There are times when you need to run with the wind. And then there are times when you need to walk with a child. Such is life. Like it or not, you have to adapt to the speed of the moment. Nowadays, one would naturally think that speed is of the essence. But this is definitely not true in case of city traffic. With the ever worsening traffic conditions the average speed during city commute seems to be in a constant free-fall. This means having a zippy small car to drive around has become less of a breeze and more of a liability. And that is exactly what happened with me and my zippy little city runabout. The fun of darting in and out of traffic was slowly turning into epic frustration thanks to never ending stop-go and unsafe traffic conditions. So, I decided to rethink my options. Essentially, I had two choices. One, I could Uber and forget about the chaos around me, or, two, I could spend a bomb and buy a car that would negotiate the treacherous city roads at reasonable speeds without being zippy. Considering that I am penny wise and pound foolish, I went for option two. I decided to upgrade. Rather, downgrade. So I swapped my my daily feisty little city runabout with a more sedate little car. 

Whilst my friends are scared that I have lost my edge or in this case lost my zippy-ness (no pun intended), I can safely say that my sedate little car has helped me skip some anger management sessions. In the past, while the slowest car would be in my front, the fastest car would always be tailgating me. This meant there was a real risk of me rear-ending the guy in front just in case s/he decided to spill their coffee or veer off while live Whatsapping/tweeting their commute horror (while conveniently forgetting that they were not driving an autonomous Tesla). This also posed the risk of the guy behind rear-ending me. And a couple of times, the risk had become real. Now, such is no longer the case. Nowadays I get an immense amount of satisfaction in frustrating other drivers with my patented 'crawl' driving mode. I brake at my leisure because the fastest vehicle is already miles ahead of me and the slowest one, well, I am the slowest so there's no one behind me. So no question of me rear-ending someone or someone rear-ending me in turn. 

Then there are the motorcyclists. They have this notion that the 2-second rule or the safe braking distance between two cars is actually a reserved driving space for their bikes. So they just plonk themselves in while discussing their evening plans (or sweet nothings) with their pillion riding girlfriends (or boyfriends as the case may be) while I would be left with 0.02 second rule or the really panic braking distance rule. Now, even the slowest biker seems to have zoomed off into the sunset even as I try to pick up speed. The safe braking distance is now twice of what it used to be before. Ergo, 2-second rule problem is solved. 

Speaking of other advantages, I can stop well in advance for pedestrians who were never good at Math or Physics or common sense crossing at unmarked places. Remember, when a 1-tonne mechanical object (in this case, my car) travelling at a speed of 25-30 kph collides with another body (in this case, a self-propelled pedestrian glued to their mobile screen with a death wish) weighing 70-90 kg that is travelling at 5 kph perpendicular to the aforementioned 1-tonne object, the consequences for the 70-90 kg pedestrian would be a little more serious than for the 1-tonne object. This is Physics. Or one can do quick Math. Or if one doesn't know either, they can use their head i.e. common-sense. But since some peds are not mentally agile, having a slow car can make up for such lack of agility on their part. By the time I reach an unofficial ped crossing, all the peds and their cousins and their chickens have already crossed without causing any trouble to me. Coincidentally, my consumption of pepto bismol has also come down. Bliss!

I could go on about the virtues of being a cautious driver in a slow car but I must admit that I never realized that being a slowpoke was so much fun. Instead of always being in a hurry and never reaching on time, I now arrive fashionably late. The only downside, I have to hear myself karaoke-ing with the radio but that's nothing compared to being a zippy driver. My friends these days are betting that I am slower than the planes and trains arriving and departing from New Delhi during the foggy months of November and December. I wouldn't bet against them if I were you. All these days, I was running with the wind, but now, I am learning to walk with a child. Everything is normal once again.