C Y Gopinath: Mumbai lives each day in road rage

My first international traffic violation happened in Nairobi Kenya I was in a lane waiting to turn in to the fourlane Ngong Road when an oncoming car flashed its headlights at me Two flashesIn Mumbai Ive learned that when a car flashes twice its the driver warning you that hes in a hurry and has no plans to stop for you or anyone else So I stayed put little realising that in the more civilized Nairobi two flashes was the equivalent of You go first after you So the oncoming car braked for me but I stayed where I was while the car behind me jerked forward and crashed into mineThis is my 12th year in Thailand and I am yet to see anything remotely close to anger on the streets Drivers dont roll down their windows and abuse the mothers and sisters of pedestrians or fellow drivers When two vehicles collide their owners dont go batshit crazy and start shouting They stand around quietly taking photographs of the damage done for insurance exchange calling cards and wait for the police They seem to get it anger is unnecessary and will change nothingTo be sure Ive met a few very angry Thais behind the wheel But in a city that carries over 12 million vehicles on roads built for 15 million the average Thai driver is astonishingly eventempered and disciplined People drive in their lanes dont crosscut each other stop at signals mdash and most civilized of all treat pedestrians with dignity and respectFor example being Mumbaitrained I frequently try to step into Bangkoks streaming traffic and daredevil my way between zipping cars Indians are very good at this having won their colours in cities where no one drives in lanes and where Toyotas noisy threewheelers motorcycles cycles cows dogs bullock carts trucks and pedestrians are all equal and believe the road belongs to their fatherIn Mumbai drivers would have lowered their windows and abused my ancestry and posterity while I laughing roguishly would have danced between hurtling traffic cheating death at every step In Thailand I now expect cars to pause and wait deferentially while I cross without anger or abuse I tell myself they probably go home and break the crockery but I doubt even that is true Thais just seem to be better brought up than we areThe road rage of Mumbais drivers is legendary They tolerate nothing that slows them down impedes them diverts them or inconveniences them Mumbai with well over three million cars on the road topped India in road accidents in 2016 with 24639 incidents in which 467 diedTom Vanderbilt author of Traffic says the words road rage lend a clinical legitimacy to what might simply be termed as boorish behaviour elsewhere He suggests traffic tantrums instead nicely underscoring the raw childishness of aggressive driving Drivers are essentially mute when driving limited to a set of basic signals with basic meanings Honking is the only recourse language at the drivers disposal and in Mumbai it is used indiscriminately The main messages communicated seem to be Out of my way and Fk youIn recent trips to Mumbai Ive noticed that those attitudes permeate daily transactions unrelated to traffic Mumbaikars get feisty if they cant get their way hate anyone who delays them even a little are intolerant of errors and respond to small inconveniences with anger and outrageId say that the Mumbaikar lives daily life in a state of road rage Nowhere is that intense intolerant vicious and selfabsorbed killer instinct more evident that at Churchgate or CSMT at peak hour A boiling mass of humans hell bent on somehow getting in will trample on and manhandle each other to get into the train You could blame the poor railway network the population the lack of service or not enough compartments but similar crowds in Bangkok dont go into deprivationfrenzyNeither do the socalled New World army ants Eciton burchellii focus of much study by traffic scientists A single nest can contain over three million ants more than Mumbais cars combined but when they leave to forage for food they will move in three lanes two outer ones for outgoing ants and the inner one for ants bringing food back At crossroads each focuses on helping others move so everyone movesPerhaps this is what Mumbai has lost the instinct to cooperate and be a community gaining a deep selfishness instead Unlike ants and swarms of locusts which never have traffic jams and live happily ever after we seem to have devolved into selfishness with each one looking out for himself in life and in traffic And forgetting that when we help others move we move tooHere viewed from there C Y Gopinath in Bangkok throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai the city that raised him You can reach him at cygopigmailcom Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates