IotR stands for Idiots on the Road where I will be chronicling stupidity I see on Indian roads. Here is first one: I didn’t witness this, but it happened as a friend narrated it, on the Bangalore Outer Ring Road (a six-land road inside the city) near Doddanekkundi. There was this guy riding a Honda Activa scooter…
When it comes to vehicles and general Indian populace, the saying “Little knowledge is a dangerous thing” acquires new dimensions in its meaning. Forget treating 800cc cars as a status symbol and defining masculinity as per your presence and command on the road and your ability to make all the World fall at your feet…
During times of the course of the day, the Earth’s rotation takes it to the other side of the sun plunging it and everything on it into darkness. Bereft of natural light, we miserable humans need artificial luminescence to see what lies ahead of us while we make our way forward through that deep, dark darkness….
What is the big deal about driving a car? A car is not much different from that 100cc bike we have been riding since we hit puberty. Sure, it is a bit wider, has two more wheels and position, size and shape of the levers, pedals and such controls change a bit. But it is…
For many, especially the neo-liberated Indian in small town India, buying a car is a dream come true, the process of acquiring it is a dream process come true and car salesmen are dream merchants. Whatever people might say, I believe that globalization and capitalism have liberated us. It it were not for it, you…
A car is a must today. No doubt about that, especially when there is little effective public transportation in India. But the car ownership funda in our society is totally warped with “emotional” or perceived factors outweighing the logical and rational ones. India does not have a “driving culture” or an “automotive culture” save some…
When it comes to having changed the lives of millions of Indians post liberalization, the automobile sector must come second only after the Telecom sector. Almost all major automobile manufacturers in the world have their presence in the country today with models and variants ranging from 125,000 to 500 million bucks on offer, but heavily skewed…
Compared to those who lived twenty years ago, us Indians of today are a pampered lot. For instance, anyone who wants to buy a car is spoiled for choice today. During those non-liberalized days when I was growing up, you couldn’t buy a car even if you had the money for there were only the…
India’s roads and driving culture are one for the books. You will be hard-pressed to find a place anywhere on earth where pure chaos and lawlessness prevails on the roads as so much as it does in India. Almost none of the rules that apply when driving a vehicle on public roads are followed here,…
