This was a while back. In fact I think it was two years back. A friend of mine had come down from out of town and we were on our way battling the Airport Road traffic to reach the Airport. As such, driver’s in Bangalore have little or no regard for lane Discipline, but in traffic situations, they seem to stay in line.
So.. here we are following a white corolla on the Airport Road and nearing Manipal Hospital Junction. Now, we all know that it’s a notorious place even with the Airport now shifted out, and in those days.. it was pure chaos. One would actually calculate the approximate time and add 20 minutes for the junction while heading to the airport.
Banerughatta Road, on a rainy night.
So.. where were we.. ah yes, following the white corolla, in the center lane and more towards the left. There are 2 rows of vehicle on our right waiting for.. well to turn right or to take a U-Turn, or whatever. The left side traffic is free to go straight or turn left. Here’s when this corolla chap does the unthinkable, he spots a gap between two cars on the right and tries to get in.
The corolla being huge, heavy and largely un-maneuverable stops with its bum sticking out. This effectively blocks the 3rd lane with vehicles piling up behind us by the second. I wait, the patient me thinks that the corolla has other plans, probably he will reverse a little and give it another try as I can see that it’s possible for him to move out by at least 2 more feet. He does not.
I honk.
People behind us Honk. And the whole line of vehicles honk.
The corolla meanwhile has all it’s windows up. Has the stereo on loud so that we are largely benefitted from it. And the driver is oblivious to the whole Tamasha he has created behind him. We go for the next option, lets get out and ask him to move. But the vehicles are so close together it’s not possible to open the doors. We roll down the windows and scream, no use.
With about 10 minutes left for boarding to start, I do the only thing left to do. I move our car and ever so slowly bump the toyota.
“Dhunk”
This gets his attention, he rolls his window and stereo down to give us an earful. The moment his head came out, an onslaught of abuses were hurled towards him from almost 15 cars behind him. It was needed, suddenly the abuses made the toyota much lighter, more maneuverable and he neatly tucked himself into the center lane. We passed giving him the stares, in my ORVM I could see that others were not so polite, they spoke a lot with their hands outside the window.
We reached the airport with about a minute to spare.
Just another day in the traffic. And kindly maintain lane discipline, it makes life a lot easier.