Absolutely right man.
They people do not know the cost of other lives.

No offence to anyone, but many young reckless drivers play highly mad games like gta and all, and drive/ride like they are the KING, whosoever they want, they can hit, they can steal, rob, do the actions and all.

One very cruel accident i remember was that- i was parking my new bike at my school parking, one of my maths sir came and said to ride very low on some streets as a day before one guy on pulsar was speeding on right pavement on congested road and suddenly hit a small kid by his leg guard and ran off...without knowing that the kid had died on spot.

I request to all to leave to your destination a little before and to ride/drive calmly.

Ride Safe.

Very nice write up sir.
I would also like to add that, we must concentrate on our riding only when we are in road, i mean when we are tensed, we tend to think about it while we are riding, and thus making us more prone to common mishaps, we should try to drift those thoughts away and enjoy our riding. Be happy while riding, feel the breeze around your neck, hear the engine spinning to make you happy, exhaust playing a orgasmic tune for you, there is so much to be happy about, dont ruin it by being sad and worried.

Ride safe and do read the 8th point once again.

Good one! good to see issues like road rage being talked about in xBhp.

My point of view is that most of these cases happen when one is pushed to the limit and when cant tolerate it anymore, at times a person doesnt realize what he is doing in rage.

It has happened with me also, i mean i end up using foul language when i see someone changing lanes or driving crazy and posing a threat to me and others, im not proud of this and lately have been refraining and controlling myself. But still the thing is something needs to be done to prevent road rage in the first place......people should follow rules...following a traffic rule is so damn hard for people.

Agree wid u brotheren...!!
Fly Safe....Bon Voyage....!!

Excellent points Sunil and sorry about the awful experience you had with that car wala.

One thing we should remember here is that we are talking about the behavior and tolerance of the motorist, not why/why not and how they follow/violate traffic rules so talking about rash driving etc will divert us from real discussion of why people are so rude and inhuman on roads.

This also reminds me of the initial scenes from Munna bhai MBBS initial scenes from Munna bhai MBBS (between 9sec till end) when a pick pocketer get trashed by general public while he tries to pull a fast one on Sunil Dutt. The dialogues of Sunil Dutt are very true in content of what goes on in every day life of an Indian and how that affects their social behavior. same is reflected on roads when people pick up a fight for the smallest things possible.

We still have lot to learn in terms of civic sense. When I say "please" to anyone the opposite thinks that I am pleading helplessly and when I say "sorry" I become a punching bag.

Nice thought provoking write-up this.

I think one needs to keep a calm head while riding/driving, be it within the city, or on the highway.
People need to realise that the other person is in as much hurry as they are!

There are lots of BIG heads riding/driving on the roads, and the best way to tackle them is to ignore them, and forgive them if at all they wrong us. No point in fighting a losing battle. Ego tussles are the last thing one must get involved in, especially with unknown people out on the streets.

Seems to be a ticking time bomb in our cities and towns. Traffic violations happens around us all the time and enforcement is next to nothing. when someone knows that they cannot be punished for an offence, these kinds of incidences happen.

That is one of the reasons I pack by 6" buck bowie blade when I ride alone.

keep safe and watch out. adopt defensive driving techniques at all times. Avoid situations that can put you in a physical conflict. It is better to walk away with a few harmless scratches that can be fixed easily rather than something more serious.

Road-rAGE.

IMO , our environment is conducive to said RAGE. Macroscopically speaking, post-independence, we attained freedom , but not the mindset to use it. Since then we have been coming along doing whatever it takes to earn big money,status or just a living for many. We strive to achieve in the worst of conditons, then talk about the worst of conditions exaggeratively and thus there are few who know what they really wanted in the start and actually satisfy their more worldly needs.this environment makes it difficult for one to think for themselves, ponder over what they really wanted out of life.In trying to search for ourselves , we relate to family connections, other politically powerful contacts, our religion and try to establish an image of status achievement in our minds.we need society to accept our achievement for us to be satisfied about having performed. there are few individual minds, global-thinkers, broad-perspective thinkers,who achieve out of thier core-want and are happy with it regardless of how the society percieves their achievements.
so what im trying to get to is that we thrive heavily upon society in terms of a give and take relationship.we make provisions in our life because society expects , and thus have an expectation from society in return, with support in the form of literally small-time gangster activites since those are the adversities faced by common man on thier road to fulfilling society's purpose,our own purpose.Do you really think most people in India have the b@ll& to consider their life as a JOURNEY?
Discontent,misdirection,pure frustration and no jubiliation from within at our own achievements is what makes us get ticked off at any point,IMO.
And what better place to channelise it than on our cramped-up,congested roads utilised by all kinds adhering in their own little way to the above mentioned mind-set, being well aware that you might never see the person you are pitting yourself against, ever again.that apart,our trust and high levels of ego in our own backup and this"you know people in the highest of places, i know people in the lowest"principle we pit our inventory of contacts against each other and get a rush out of who wins this battle of the pointless.
coming back to the micro-level, since i reside in mumbai i can vouch for these happenings.a certain area in chunabhatti has some vigilante civilians who take it upon themselves in hoardes, to make right the wrong done by who they consider a passing errant driver,rider in their locality by physically attacking them.this happened with a person i know , and he retaliated by going back there that evening with a van full of people ready to achieve some societal recognition of thier own.
all this is my opinion still forming since the past 19 yrs if i could think since i was a year old , which i believe is what we need , to think and assess for ourselves from a young age, than to just follow the bandwagon, do things blindly because society demands or our perception of society makes us believe it demands and end up a country so diversely unified that it eventually lacks individualism.
p.s: lets not blame GTA,we have access to many a things,its what we pick up from it, that makes us.frankly, the freedom that a bike in GTA allowed, is what made me want to start riding.
p.p.s: i think what pulsater mentioned about from the movie, in a nutshell explains what i have tried to get across above.

Seems like a conflict in advice and action. I would advise you against taking that thing with you. It could lead to some unwanted and serious repercussions marring the rest of your life.


As far as this great article by Sunil is concerned, it is one of the reasons why I completely detest riding in Delhi, it is a nightmare, stressing me to the limit.

The people in Delhi are the most foul mouthed, bad mannered people I have ever seen in all across India. Given an option I would anyday like to quietly migrate to a city in south like Pune.

Sad, I feel very sad.

better not to try out such equipment, these days even the gun culture is become not rare. such actions may get you in serious trouble (I pack by 6" buck bowie blade stuff) with the law makers and law breakers. people acting smart with knives were shot down simply because the other guy was having a gun.

so please .. nothing like a good behavior for us riders and should be our weapon of choice.

All said and done but you are also never willingly wanting to get into a situation where you never know the end consequence.

"Kismat kharab hai to, oonth(camel) pe baite aadme ko bhe kutta kat leta hai"

I have stayed in Delhi (alone) for 3 years and the temperament of people there is just not explainable.(i mean no objection to anyone please). Everyone thinks hes no less than the other and wants the upper hand in everything. You never want to get into a situation,for all you know is the other party is some ministers or cops dear son and you might end up spending loosing your dear life or go behind bars. Also recently the situation back in Bangalore is getting somewhere there. Not the people but the law keepers this time.
There is no end to this, no matter you say sorry and want to get out one day or the other you find yourself in the similar situation again. People just don't respect law left alone another soul.

@Sunilg: I hope you are alright now....

When will things improve in India.
In one way or another all of us are victims of road rage.
Vehicles of all sizes, people, animals share the same road. Everyone wants space, everyone wants to reach their destination faster. So drivers drive faster, pedestrians cross roads without much of a glance, not bothering about others on the road. Many don't reach their intended destinations, they reach their 'ultimate destination'.

Many vehicles are now bigger than the roads.
Engines, more powerful.
Headlights, more brighter.
Horns, louder.
At a traffic signal, engines roar. Drivers and passengers swear.
Bumper to bumper traffic.
Come signal green.
Crash of gears.
Clutches pop.
Engines whine.
Bikers shoot past.
Cars, trucks, buses follow.

Somewhere down the road, an accident.
Its always the other ones fault.

Well,my friend keeps a baseball bat in his car in case of any fight.I guess there is a limit to which you can tolerate,I would certainly not tolerate if someone hits my bike and breaks my indicator,would ask for compensation,if he shows me temper I would beat him and will obviously damage his vehicle,but I will keep that in my mind that I can save my A$$.
When manpower(public) is with you and the person who has committed a mistake isnt bowing down.I would make sure that I will make him down.
Once a autowallah kinda bruised his auto with my indicator and wasnt at all apologetic and wasnt listening when I said "Dekh ke chala".He was carefree,it boiled my blood.
I chased him down,in the middle of the road and said "Toke khukri diye ekhoni katbo dara tui."(I will butcher you down with a dagger) He and the passengers were stunned,he apologised.I said "Abarshi jodi erokom dekhi erokom korte kete felbo!"(If I see you again doing this will surely butcher you).He didnt utter a word and I went away.
You know people(passengers) leave the vehicle when there is a argument,fight.Same thing was going to happen,but I let it go as there wasn't any damaged.But if the indicator would have been broken I would have broken windshield for sure!

As time went by I cooled down,I know most of the riders/drivers on road are morons who dont care about their life or Else's.Once a P220 guy kinda hit my silencer,he apologised I said its ok but thoda dekhke chaloa yaar, and we zoomed off!

10 days ago some moron in his wasnt giving me pass and when i tried to overtake him,he was taking a turn without any indicators ON.I somehow saved myself,he was giving slangs,but I let it go.Would have went back and could had an argument.
When I was 17-18 I was thinking of buying an dagger to keep it with me!
But time has teached me that wasting precious energy,time,money isnt worth it.
Whenever any guys shows you his anger,tell him that someday he will pay for the carelessness thats in him.
If he's sensible he will understand,otherwise let him go to hell.

I had a similar encounter.
I was riding my FZ in the city one day and was slowly moving into the inner lane. Traffic was slow. I saw a white Ford Fiesta in the rear view mirror and there was a decent distance between us. I had the right indicator switched on as well. The bugger did not sound his horn or slow down and he scraped my silencer. Luckily, I veered off to the left in time. I let him pass and then rode up his side of the car and gave him a piece of my mind. This took my attention off the road and I ended up bumping into the rear of a Maruti 800. With God's grace nothing happened. No damage to the 800 or my bike. I apologized to the 800 guy and told him there was no damage. During these few seconds the Fiesta took off.
From then on, I decided not to argue or shout at others while in traffic. And not to be angry, just be thankful that nothing awful happened.