BreathlessAnt's Blog

Revenge or Gandhigiri?

Yesterday evening, I was the victim of road rage of sorts. And, while my heart and soul sought revenge, I desisted from exacting it.

Let me tell you what happened. I was driving home from work. It was early evening and I was in the lane on the right, and right on track behind a bus. At a point slightly ahead, the road became single lane because of some road works. Suddenly from the left came this beaten up white Alto, driven by a young surd. The lad tried to nose his car between me and the bus. I just ignored him and continued in my lane. He tried to get in three or four times, getting more rash each time. Each time, I continued sticking to my lane, and my place behind the bus - unconcerned at his antics.

Immediately after the road works was this circle, where I was to turn left. The bus took a left turn and so did I. As the bus turned, this lad revved his engine and tried to get between us yet again. And once more I stuck to my guns. He had to slam on his brakes to avoid brushing my car.

About 200 meters ahead, the bus took a right turn and went away, while I continued straight down the road. By that time, this lad’s car was tailgating my car. His ego must have been smarting so hard at not being allowed to butt in by a mere woman. I knew I should expect fireworks soon.

As expected, this guy revved his engine, swung hard to the left lane, brought his car parallel to mine, stuck his head out of his car mouthed some things (not complimentary, i bet - but alas, the words lost their effect on me as my windows were rolled shut, and the AC and music system were on). He overtook my car from the left, and swerved hard into a position bang in front of my car. Then he deliberately slowed, forcing me to slow down. That’s what I had expected… and that’s exactly what he did.

I am generally cool up to a point, but when I see red, I see RED. I am a much better than average driver, and do not take incursions of this kind lightly. My first (gut) instinct was to teach this lad a lesson that he would not forget easily. I was capable of doing the same thing to him, and leading him slowly and straight into the police station - as I have done once in the past. [:P]

This time, strangely, although I was mad at his gumption, my next thoughts were ‘Hey, look at that car’! It was so badly beaten up, and bore so many stamps of past encounters with immovable objects - dents, scratches, damaged paintwork, and rust showing through.

I consciously slowed my car to a crawl behind his. The fast track red blooded guy that he was, he could keep up to this slow pace for no more than 2 minutes, then he could bear it no more. Perhaps he felt I had given up, and feeling very happy (this is my wild guess) that he had taught the old biddy a lesson, he va va vroomed away.

Take home message: The Appy of today is wiser than the Appy of yore. I pretended to be slower (dumber on the road) than I will ever be, and let him feel he had got the better of him. This act (gandhigiri of sorts?) was wiser in the long run. His badges warned me to steer clear and avoid a conflict through which I might have come out a victor, but could have left me with a hefty bill - that would have mighty well pleased him.

Moral: While revenge is sweet, it’s better in the long run to be wise. 

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