Every man who drives a car and who doesn't have wrinkled forearm, who doesn't hold the steering using both the hands, believes he is a Micheal Schumacher in his own terms!! Any small stretch of empty road, (especially if you have driven through the city in Bangalore), would set the right foot press the accelerator pedal a bit harder!! and yes if the trip is outside the city, say from one city to another, then the cameras would be setting rolling... the videos of the speedometer touching high 160s or 180s would find its place in You Tube!!!
Contrary to the above norm I had an experience which was out of the world (all the pun intended!!) during my trip last week to Dharwad, a more than lazy town, a middle class pensioners paradise in its true sense.
We were supposed to attend a wedding of my wife's cousin in Dharwad and since my wife belongs to Hubli, she has a truck load of her relatives there. Distance between Hubli and Dharwad being only 17.5 kms, it made sense to stay back in Hubli and commute to and forth of each day of the two day wedding. One of her relatives was kind enough to offer us their ALTO for our use for two days. The first statement I heard when I was receiving the key was "bhaal fast hogbyadri..50 maximum adhaa nodri.. allalle ninthirthaara... hiddhe bidthara.."(north karnataka dialect of kannada language.. which approximately translates to mean that there is a speed limit of 50 in that route, and people would be caught and fined heavily if they are found driving beyond the speed limit). Are we in US or what? I thought to myself, but since it was not my car, I thought let me sincerely follow the advice.
Summer in Hubli for bangaloreans is a bit too taxing, and if we travel around somewhere close to noon, then the chances of the heat getting to your head is quite high. So exactly at 12 noon, we left Hubli to reach our destination Dharwad, which was a stones throw away in terms of traveling by car. However, with the speed limit in mind, I had the challenge of controlling my urge to even put my foot on the accelerator.
The sleepy afternoon road, had empty stretches throughout the route... but since I was more busy looking at the speedometer than the road ahead, the journey seemed more like a procession to me. For anyone who drives a car, I guess the temptation to zip through on a empty road is hard to resist. I was hovering around 45 to 50 Kmph mark, and for all that mind control that I had achieved during this journey, the reward...an Innova who was following me religiously almost up to the halfway mark, found an empty stretch, overtook me and zipped through only to find the cops in white and brown, wave their hands frantically, and fine him for over speeding. I was proud of at least having resisted the temptation, for it was really worth the effort (or rather non effort :)??)
In one sense I was really happy that so much effort has been put to see that the rules are in place. It wouldn't be without reason that they would have put this in place.. my take is that all the pensioners in Dharwad drive through this route :)
Is there no way out?? for all the schumachers and valentino rossis.. there is a by pass route.. where the minimum at which the speedometer reads is 80kmph!! of course its a longer route, but for all those who have an itch in their right foot, this is definitely not the Road less taken!!!
Contrary to the above norm I had an experience which was out of the world (all the pun intended!!) during my trip last week to Dharwad, a more than lazy town, a middle class pensioners paradise in its true sense.
We were supposed to attend a wedding of my wife's cousin in Dharwad and since my wife belongs to Hubli, she has a truck load of her relatives there. Distance between Hubli and Dharwad being only 17.5 kms, it made sense to stay back in Hubli and commute to and forth of each day of the two day wedding. One of her relatives was kind enough to offer us their ALTO for our use for two days. The first statement I heard when I was receiving the key was "bhaal fast hogbyadri..50 maximum adhaa nodri.. allalle ninthirthaara... hiddhe bidthara.."(north karnataka dialect of kannada language.. which approximately translates to mean that there is a speed limit of 50 in that route, and people would be caught and fined heavily if they are found driving beyond the speed limit). Are we in US or what? I thought to myself, but since it was not my car, I thought let me sincerely follow the advice.
Summer in Hubli for bangaloreans is a bit too taxing, and if we travel around somewhere close to noon, then the chances of the heat getting to your head is quite high. So exactly at 12 noon, we left Hubli to reach our destination Dharwad, which was a stones throw away in terms of traveling by car. However, with the speed limit in mind, I had the challenge of controlling my urge to even put my foot on the accelerator.
The sleepy afternoon road, had empty stretches throughout the route... but since I was more busy looking at the speedometer than the road ahead, the journey seemed more like a procession to me. For anyone who drives a car, I guess the temptation to zip through on a empty road is hard to resist. I was hovering around 45 to 50 Kmph mark, and for all that mind control that I had achieved during this journey, the reward...an Innova who was following me religiously almost up to the halfway mark, found an empty stretch, overtook me and zipped through only to find the cops in white and brown, wave their hands frantically, and fine him for over speeding. I was proud of at least having resisted the temptation, for it was really worth the effort (or rather non effort :)??)
In one sense I was really happy that so much effort has been put to see that the rules are in place. It wouldn't be without reason that they would have put this in place.. my take is that all the pensioners in Dharwad drive through this route :)
Is there no way out?? for all the schumachers and valentino rossis.. there is a by pass route.. where the minimum at which the speedometer reads is 80kmph!! of course its a longer route, but for all those who have an itch in their right foot, this is definitely not the Road less taken!!!
A[V]I
No comments:
Post a Comment