Driving License at 4

Every morning when I drop my 5 yr old off at school, I insist he sits in the backseat with the seatbelt in place. We have always tried to set an example of driving safely, and respecting traffic rules.

Unfortunately, every morning, he ends up seeing at least one incident that breaks the theme. This then becomes a huge challenge for me -  to rationalize someone else’s action and my reaction to it.

At 8:30 in the morning, we have to pass through lanes avoiding at least 4 schools in a radius of 3 kms.  The roads are dug up on one side (the reasons vary but the roads are always dug up) , rendering half of  already small lanes unusable, yet continue, to be open to two way traffic.

Some specific scenes we witness on the road:  There is one car trying to overtake on your right (on the wrong side of the lane), blocking the way for the oncoming cars, and will invariably start an ugly jam. There is one car, behind you, running late for school, incessantly honking, hoping you will give way.  There is a garbage truck stopped in the middle of the road, with the possibility of some of the stuff tipping over on to your hood when you pass by it. There is one car that has been driving on your left and suddenly turning to the right in front of you without an indicator. There will always be one ahead of you, that will stop abruptly on seeing a vegetable cart or a friend walking on the road. There will be many you will see, where the driver is busy on a call, balancing the mobile between head and shoulder, completely oblivious to his/her surroundings. There will be one with the driver looking into the face of the person in the front passenger seat, and chatting away. There will be another one driven by an elderly person, who is highly cautious for all the obvious reasons, but unfortunately slowing down the whole line of cars.

But, there is this one, that I have heard of before, but have never seen so far. I think I got lucky last afternoon when I went to pick up my boy from school.

My 2 yr old, who wanted to go with me to pick up his brother, was safely belted in the back in his carseat, while I drove through all the chaos, well in time to find an easy spot to park behind the school road.  Then I got him out, and walked slowly on the footpath with him and stopped at a small junction. This is where I had to cross the road to move to the other side and wait in front of the school gate for my older one to happily peep through the gap in the gate, see us and have us pick him up.

Now this tricky junction is supposedly used for the sole purpose of crossing over after alighting from a car or an auto. Invariably, we see everyone alighting right at the junction, ensuring a mini-jam or loud honking or angry yelling. Then there is a mini-ferris wheel right at that spot to attract the toddlers while they go home, and parents are waiting around the wheel blocking the way. You will also find a couple of horses, with a rider waiting to take the toddlers on a quick ride down the road and back.

This is where I witnessed this never-seen-before sight.  One chauffeur decided to drive upto the junction and stopped right in the middle of it. A grandmother was helping a 4 yr old girl out of the ferris wheel. She then paid for the ride, said a couple of goodbyes to a few mothers, and quickly fixed a play-date for the evening with one of them. Around this time, the grandkid ran happily towards the car. Much to my surprise the little one ran to the driver’s door. I waited for some reaction from the two adults who were supposed to be responsible for the kid. The chauffeur smiled at the girl, and opened the door for her, picked her up and put her on his lap, shut the door, and let the girl take the wheel. The grandmother walked up to the car, asked the girl if she was ok and would sit there till they reached home (lest the little one change her mind on the way home and wanted to hop into the backseat with her grand-mom), after which she casually opened the back door and got in.

I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t even muster the strength to do anything about it, despite having a thousand thoughts running in my head. There is a mother out there in an office,  hoping her small girl is taken care of by family and an employee. There is an educated woman in her 50’s who is well aware of what happens around her, but  apparently believes that nothing can go wrong with her family. And there is also a spectator who can do nothing about all this, fearing the “Mind your own business” line coming her way.

I still can’t make up my mind on which could be worse, an accident on the road, or a traumatic incident of child abuse!