A cab drive : Fear? Root Cause?

Struggling with jet lag, in the state of not enough sleep, I booked a cab using the power

in my hand (mobile :-)). It is a pleasant morning, cloudy, with droplets of rain once in a

while and road near the apartment being wet, containing mud, sand, oil here and there.

Last but not the least, polyethylene papers on the road, some containing food and some not. 

I booked a share pool, price of solo ride was high and it made sense to go for a share

pool given the time difference between share-pool and solo raid. I choose to sit along

with the driver. I usually like to sit in the front seat mainly to observe activity on the

driver mobile. During my childhood, it was always fun to observe the driver of a

RTC (Road Transport Corporation) bus with a gigantic steering wheel. Most of the

time, the driver mobile shows maps but it also tells a lot about ride provider application.

As soon as I sat, the ride app took control, it paired with a rider who was two

kilometers away, but still in the shortest route to my office address.

The road took a left turn, deviation from a main road, but I know that the road ends

quickly with two side roads that are very short, so, kind of guessed that second rider

was nearby. The car made a screeching sound, looks like the brake applied in haste,

in spite of paying full attention, I could not reason the need of braking.  Driver

looked around, did anonymous call to the rider. Our next rider appeared on the road

from the side road close to the deadend, walked and stepped into the back seat.

The driver asked his name, swiped the ride application confirming that rider

boarded the car.

We turned back to the main road. It was almost close to a junction where the wait time

is usually high.The ride application sprang to life, notifying availability of another rider.

The car driver accepted, took a u-turn, going backwards.

I kind of felt that the ETA (expected time of arrival - a common word used in software

industry compared to the transport industry) would have increased by another ten minutes.

I did not bother to open the mobile and check the new ETA. In stating, it is not a complaint

at all, the nature of the pool trips will be like this.

The car took a left turn from the main road and raced towards a renowned apartment.

Though the apartment cannot be described, still giving a try, the rent can be around

twenty thousand currency units. It went deep inside the apartment where the

new rider boarded.

The driver app immediately showed the new route. I knew this route, but did not think

that ride application knows about it, so kind of felt good. The car raced for next one

kilometer. It look left turn.

This road was full of cars one behind the other. An attempt to describe the situation,

perhaps there were around twelve cars in front of us waiting to take a left turn.

We have to take this left turn and an immediate U-Turn to be on the road to

Hi-tech city. Right after we stopped, I saw another car waiting behind us. To put

differently, the road was full of cars now on the left side and right side was empty,

kind of good etiquette to allow vehicles coming from the opposite side.

The driver pushed himself to the back of the seat and looked outside the window.

It appeared that he did not like the waiting. The driver turned the vehicle to the right

in the hope of crossing the cars waiting ahead. Though I could not see what he saw

on the right side, as soon we were on the right half of the road, it was empty.

He almost crossed the first car ahead of us. There was little gap created which kind

of created an opportunity for the driver to go onto the left immediately. Sensing this,

the driver in the car left to us, note that we are on the right side of the road,

perhaps a software engineer, sneaked the car further without giving an opportunity

for our driver to cross. Interestingly this happens quite often. If one pays enough

attention, it may also give a great sense of satisfaction in arresting someone sneaking

into the lane, not sure if it happened to you, but next time, just observe it, do not condemn

but try to understand the workings of mind.

For a while, I also thought that driver would come back to the left of the road by

crossing few cars. As he crossed third and fourth car, it was clear to me that he intended

to cross all the cars. 

As he crossed the fourth car ahead of us at the time when we stopped in this lane,

the sixth car, an SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle), which costs around fifteen to seventeen

lakhs tried to cut across to the right. The SUV driver did not have much space,

our driver moved further right creating space to the SUV, fully intending to avoid a collision.

As the pace of the car increased, we almost ran into a person walking

on the road (walking on the right end of the road towards the same turn this car intends

to take). The driver, being sharp with driving skills, applied the brake in time though

it made huge sound. The guy, whom we were very close to hit, turned around with a

surprising and questioning face. But I could not stop noticing, the guy had earphones

with a mobile in hand. Mobile in hand, the power, the power to do business,

the power to do online trading, the power to order goods and also the power to be

entertained while walking on the road.

Anticipating a collision, the SUV driver stopped. The guy “in front of us” moved to

the extreme right and started walking. As the traffic moved further, our driver after

recovery from a possible collision, started moving on the right half of the road.

By this time, the SUV driver made some more progress. The SUV driver again

intended to cut the lane etiquette. Again this time, the SUV was very close to our car

in making the right turn but stopped himself. The driver of our car moved ahead.

There was a huge shout, a foul word spoken in the native language and yelled to stop.

The driver of our car and the SUV driver are on the right lane behind each other.

We could not hear his scream but he appeared to scream.

Now, the driver of our car, raced his vehicle to the connecting road. As he was doing this,

he was looking back with a frightened face. He indeed was frightened. He was expecting

that SUV driver might stop him and create a conflict. While looking back, Using utmost

precisive skills, he managed to stay ahead and took a U-turn. He saw that SUV driver

went straight and said, “Amma”. It was a kind of relax feeling. It was also an observation

that he followed lane discipline after this till to my office address.

Interesting part that I would like to showcase is that he was caught in fear with a possible

conflict from the SUV driver. He was tensed. He exhibited very good driving skills with

respect to precision and driving in congestion with good speed. He relaxed later and

followed rules for next half an hour. All good, but not sure about this in my view.

The first question that comes to my mind is about the need of rush.

Is the rush to make more trips? Is the rush to make more money? Is the rush

because of frustration to wait? Is the rush because of hunger? This seems to be a

good question, to question this activity. But, if one questions oneself, is there a possibility

to find this attitude in ourselves? How many times one gets frustrated in waiting? How

many times one gets frustrated if their activity or goal is not progressing in time? How

many times one gets to violate rules to meet the demands? By the way, following or

not following rules, getting frustrated or not frustrated, is immaterial here. It is all about

the working of mind and its similarities with everyone in the world.

The next question, why was the driver afraid? Instead of this, a better question in my mind,

why is one afraid? For a possible punishment? For a possible loss? For a possible deprivement

of comfortable sensations? For a possibility of not meeting deadlines? For a possibility

of not meeting one's expectations? Is not fear same everywhere? If it is the same fear,

though the objects may vary, How can one be free from it?

The next part, following the lane discipline later. The question to be asked here is

about realisation. Is the realisation because of fear? If so, is that a change?

While the above are hard questions, it is good to observe that humans

oscillate between fear and pleasure. Between these two ends of human life,

it is always the inclination towards pleasure that is interesting to notice.

This inclination towards pleasure sows seeds of fear and waits for a time to sprout.