by Sri Ajit Halder
I
have been driving cars for over forty years and enjoyed watching interesting
sights seen through the car windows. I
have witnessed a variety of lively scenes reflected by the mirrors. The car
radio keeps me informed of the latest local and world news. The car stereo unit
provides in-car entertainment of popular songs and classical music. During the long periods I have been shut
inside the car, I have always been in touch with the events happening in the world
outside. Now I share with you the fascinating experience of human drama and
actions I saw from the driver’s seat.
Imagine
my typical working day starting at 08.30 in the morning. I get into the car, start the engine and the
car shakes off its inertia to speed ahead. I approach a crossroad, the traffic
lights turn from amber to red and I stop.
I welcome this break to relax and look around. I see the lady driver on my right lane
utilizing the brief waiting time to comb her hair and apply lipstick. May be that she overslept and found no time
for make-up before taking to the road.
On another occasion, I saw a lady in the car on the next lane applying
varnish to her finger nails and then throwing her hand out of the car window to
dry her nails. Eye catching sights no doubt; the traffic light soon changes to
green and concentrating on the road I accelerate away.
A
driver’s main concern is the safety of him or herself and other road
users. I may be driving cautiously when
suddenly a motor bike goes past me roaring and weaving between the lanes. I
start praying to the Lord to protect our lives.
I observe interesting human drama being enacted in the front seat of a car. In the lane next to mine once I saw a couple
making vigorous gestures to each other. They
were obviously in an agitated mood and their action may safely be interpreted
as an extension of an oral duel which they had started in their home. I sincerely wished a happy ending of that dialogue
and peace would be restored that evening at their dining table.
A
town’s market street is always busy with commercial activities and here speed
is restricted. Once at a pedestrian
crossing a lolly pop lady stopped cars and I noticed a white young woman
pushing a pram in which two lovely babies were seated. The babies were full of life and seemed to be
enjoying the ride. It presented an
interesting sight to me more because one baby was Caucasian by race and the
other baby’s skin was dark brown in colour.
It might not be a mistake to conjecture that the woman had admirers coming
from different ethnic groups. The two
babies in the pram held up a colourful sight of peaceful co-existence before my
eyes and was a proof in black and white that the theme of racial harmony is
working in British society.
While
driving to the university one cold morning I heard on the BBC Radio an
absorbing interview with E.P. Thompson in Sue Lawley’s Desert Island Discs and
it warmed my heart. E P Thompson
reminisced on his meeting with poet Tagore at Shantiniketan. He spoke with
fervour of Tagore’s universalism and when he requested the record of Tagore’s
song: “Purano sei deener katha bhulbi kire hai” to be played, my joy knew no
bounds. Thompson mentioned the
similarity of the tune with the Scottish song “Auld Lang Sine” composed by
Robert Burns and the theme of fellowship conveyed by the song was a fitting
tribute to the universal poet Tagore.
Driving
has taken me to many types of thoroughfares, busy A roads linking cities or
tranquil B roads in the rural areas.
Motorway driving has its charm.
There are no cross roads and traffic lights to interfere with your
smooth driving. One, however, feels the
urge to overtake the car ahead. I
remember cruising along M1 near Sheffield.
A Mini was in front and I felt like overtaking it. I saw the face of a little boy close up
against the side window and a woman, probably his mother, was the driver. After several attempts I did overtake the
Mini. While I was passing I saw the
boy’s face turned to sadness. Clearly he
could not accept the ‘defeat’. Some words
passed between the boy and the woman driver who quickly transformed herself
into a rally driver and increased her speed.
I took up the challenge and pressed hard on the accelerator pedal to
apply a bigger thrust to the
engine. For a time our two cars were
racing against one another. Then a spirit of chivalry overpowered me. I eased on the accelerator and did let her
overtake me. As his car pulled ahead of
mine, the boy gave a victory smile.
Although I lost the race, I felt I won the big smile of the little boy.
From
the driver’s seat not only the sights but also amusing texts do draw my attention.
In a traffic jam cars come to a halt so I can read the stickers fixed on the
rear window of the car in front. I
remember reading a sticker:
‘I
am not as posh as your car,
But I am in front of you’.
The
car was an old Austin Ten, it lost its youth but its humour was intact. Some texts are not at all funny, one sticker
warned me thus:
‘If you can read this sign, you are too close to me’ and I kept my
distance.
The
roadside hoardings also offer interesting messages. One day driving past an old church I read on
its board: ‘Jesus saves’. In wavy handwriting someone scribbled
alongside – ‘with the Halifax Building
Society’.
A
sign on the board of another church on the roadside read: ‘The Carpenter of Nazareth needs Joiners’. I wished this message would inspire devotees to
join church service in large numbers to worship Jesus of Nazareth. Signs like these surely bring relief from the
monotony of driving.
Occasionally,
I have found my car trailing behind a funeral cortege. Out of respect for the dead person, I do not
overtake and stay behind. This offers me
an opportunity to muse on death as well as on life. I contemplate on the time the dead person was
a baby, its life began lying down in a cradle and now at the end of life that
person is making the last journey lying in a coffin. The eternal query –‘from where did life’s
journey begin and where is it going to end?’ is intriguing. By listening to the Sages one hopes to find
the answer:
‘Where
do we come from nobody knows,
Where we would be going everybody goes’.
In
the course of driving an idea often comes to me - there must be a point where
the road I am presently on is going to finish but happily at the end of a road
I always find the beginning of another road. On occasions, after covering a
great distance, when I reach my destination, the thought that fills my mind is
this:
‘The
journey is more interesting than reaching the destination,
Because the end of the journey brings to
the end of exhilaration’.
Very interesting read!
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