NO woMAN's land.. | posted by Shankar
Disclaimer:- It is hereby stated that the author is
not a chauvinist in any form, that the events stated
have been noticed by the writer and that a sweeping
generalization of ALL women is not intended, just a
section of them, though suspected to be a majority.
The other day, I was walking home through a school
ground where most people train for their 8s and Hs. I
noticed a man standing in the shade of a tree,
watching a woman riding a sunny, probably her trainer.
I watched the woman ride her sunny with open mouthed
astonishment although this was not the first time I
had seen a woman ride. She had both her legs on the
ground, and was wading like a duck in a pond. The
vehicle was crawling forward and I wasn't sure whether
the prime mover was the engine or her legs.
She could have been excused for this masterly feat if
this had been her beginning class. Unfortunately, at
this point, the man came over and told her, "Enough
for today. Same time tomorrow. The test is just a week
away. Better get your act together." I simply can't
figure how she's even going to get the vehicle into
the test venue let alone perform an 8. I could sense
the poor man's frustration from a mile away. He
noticed me looking at her and smiled at me, that was
enough. I knew what he was thinking, and I couldn't
help wondering why some women are such pathetic
drivers.
I recall now that I had seen women appearing for the
test, or rather, wading into the venue. The examiner
shook his head when this lady started an 8 and
promptly planted both her legs on the ground even
before the first loop. He took out his frustration on
the trainer. "What the hell are you teaching your
students? I'll revoke your license." Yet another time,
I saw a female trainer totally out of control. "What
the hell are you doing?" she screamed, "Does nothing
penetrate that brain of yours?"
The recall of these instances set me thinking. Of
course, my experience with female drivers have not
always been good. One lady crossed the road, wading
vigorously like mother goose, only that it was a
highway and I was travelling at a fair speed. Needless
to say, I jammed my brakes and my vehicle skid to a
halt almost perpendicular to the road. I had to use
the utmost restraint to refrain from swearing out.
Others weren't so tactful. "Dumb female!" shouted
another driver, as his vehicle squealed to a halt,
"Lady drivers should be banned." A KSRTC bus driver
struck his head with his palm and pointed a finger at
that female. Tempers were flaring all round. The lady,
with admirable calm, non-chalantly crossed the road at
2kmph, and probably was the only person totally
unaware of the chaos she had created.
Another time, a lady driving a kinetic honda, was
blissfully driving along at maybe 10kmph in the centre
of the road. Horns were blaring from behind, but she
was totally deaf to all that cacaphony. She
demonstrated firm resolve by not moving an inch,
keeping the speed steady at 10. This time a splendor
driver screamed, "Move aside, lady!" Detecting no
response, he shifted gears and screamed past headlong
at a KSRTC bus in the opposite direction. The bus
driver jammed his brakes and screamed at the man. I
took the easy way out and overtook through the left.
As I passed her, I gave her a long cold stare. I could
have been making faces at a mirror. She was the
picture of concentration, at her feet below the road.
It wouldn't be fair, if I generalized this to all
women, because I have seen fairly competent women
drivers, but too far and too little in between. Why
does this happen? One think that comes to my mind is
that the average Indian lass is a fairly fragile
creature. If a vehicle tilts to one side, the odds are
heavily on the side of the vehicle. Maybe because of
this, they intend to drive slow. I have seen a lady
fall off a sunny, perhaps the lightest vehicle of that
class because it tilted a bit too much and she
couldn't regain balance even after she had her feet
planted on the ground. In contrast to this, I have
seen a lady handle an Enfield like even I cannot!
Can someone, preferably a lady, explain why there are
such pathetic drivers? How do they get their licenses?
Even the policemen should know that even with this
palms greased, it would be totally unethical,
irresponsible and extremely dangerous to give such a
person, license to drive a vehicle. I need to know
because sometimes, I simply cannot understand what to
do. So do, I suspect many of you. Screaming at a lady
is deemed indecent, chastizing her is unheard of.
Frustration will drive you to the wall and in
desperation, you'll try anything, I mean ANYTHING, to
get past that 'infernal female' as I heard a rider
once mention. This will in turn create more
opportunities for accidents, borne out of frustration.
Please, somebody, ladies. Tell me why they do it and
how to handle the situation. Anybody else faced such
incidents? Comment please. Did you like the Bill Gates
story?
Once again. I need people to speak out on the Green
Campus idea. The other day, Ganesh K distributed
sweets on his birthday and everybody dropped the
wrappers inside the class. I had to throw them out
myself. Please be more responsible. You are not
children now. How can you litter the classroom in
which you study? Abhi suggesed spanking Ganesh K :-)
but I think the fault lies more with the others. Can
you see that you reduce plastic wastes and if you do
get them, try to dispose of them in bins and not
inside the class?
Bye
Shankar
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