Thursday, July 27, 2006

What I learned today...

i had realized a while back that mother india is a very macho country, indeed. but this morning it was brought home anew.

Leaving my parking space outside the gym, i was pulling our SUV into a U-turn - waved on by the gym’s “watchman.”   Out of nowhere a black Tata Indigo veered around the curve - he would have plowed into me as i was making my U.  I stopped short. He stopped short. The rickshaw wala that had somehow got between us stopped short.  No harm, no foul.  Just frayed nerves.  Our man in the Tata Indigo was very upset with yours truly.  He remained stopped in that position, holding up traffic shaking his hand at me, muttering god-knows-what.  Finally, he finished - esp. with the prompting of the rickwala’s horn.  So we all drove on further.

Tata man was driving slow. So rickshaw man and i passed him.  I saw that as i passed him, he was still waving his hand at me and muttering.  So i waved my hand back and muttered, too - as i thought that was the proper etiquette.  after all, it takes two to almost have an accident, right?  

But i was wrong, this angered tata man even more.  He raced ahead and pulled his vehicle to a stop right in front of mine, blocking me and any other traffic behind me.  He got out of the car and came toward my vehicle. I remembered my husband’s advice and did not roll down the window.  I just stared at him.  He stood outside there lecturing me, rhetorically asking where i learned to drive.  Just for the record, i learned to drive in India (2000 rupees for 10 hours of driving).  

I was a bit shaken.  That guy could have been even nuttier and harmed me or my vehicle.  Finally, lots of buses and lorries were honking at him, so he got back in his car.   I stalked him from behind.  I saw that he had a chick in his vehicle with him, probably his wife.  I think what i had done to him was too much for his ego to take and he cracked.

he must really have a small peepee, dontcha think?  

moral of the story:  don’t do that again.  the man in question may have a small peepee and a big woman in the car.

point to ponder:  are indian chicks impressed when their man yells at another woman?  

1 comment:

Kelly said...

OMG, how hilarious! Yes, I do know from experience that Indian machoism is alive and well! Oh, and I wish it cost 2000 rupees to take driving lessons here!