Ravings of a Nomadic Mind

You know about all those useless studies that go around the world, studies that come up with really stupid results that any one on the street with an iota of common sense already knew about after years of wasted time and money. Well, i heard about a similar study recently where a bunch of swiss scientists came up with a study as to why people speed. Well to cut it short it says young men speed when they hear masculine words. Words like Muscle and beard and people slow down when they hear a feminine word like lipstick and pink.

So i mean if ure going round a corner and listening to nirvana or thinking about going to a service center to get your car repaired or even after you have seen the "Top Gun" you will end up getting a ticket or in a ditch beside the road. Well may be not "Top Gun" its like a little gay isn't it. i know I'm going to get shot for that. any way so you if you're driving along peacefully well under the speed limit and u see this great fat swiss chef with a big beard smiling at you from a billboard you are certainly going to get into trouble. and it must be really really difficult during Christmas time i mean that fat old coot in a big red jacket with white trimmings and a great big beard is all over the place and in every one heads.

funnier still if you really believe the study all you need to slow down warm blooded young men is to put pictures of commly young woman wearing pink lipstick and every one would be driving at sober speeds and there wont be any accidents. I mean if you want to cause a pile up on the express way with a bus up your back side all you have to do is yell "bra" and people hearing that would stop dead where ever they are with every one who hadn't heard the word piling up behind them. Come to think of it that is what happens we are surrounded with commly young women in skimpy clothes on every billboard and it never helps a tinge. people still drive too fast and too rash to do any one any good.

i think it all comes down to education temperament and empathy for fellow human beings and the ot blood that flows through us human beings, i mean how else could u explain that India with its road conditions and some of the slowest traffic speeds still manages to kill more people in road accidents than the rest of the world combined.

i read some where that a lot of people were concerned that the launch of Tata Nano will cause bigger traffic problem, snarling jams, and will push the fuel prices through the roof and thus the car should be taxed to the extremes. i don't think a cheap, affordable car is going to cause more accidents or traffic snarls, in fact i think it would save lives by getting people of two wheeled buses that most Indian families seem to ride. T only way we can make the world safer is by educating people and inculcating empathy for fellow humans and by spending the money wasted on these stupid studies to improve our road conditions.

With the V6 Purring under the hood content to pull the Accord at triple digit speeds, the powerful halogen lights lighting up the night ahead of even as the moonless darkness wrapped around us like a comfy blanket. I truned up the volume of Chris Dughtery belting his hit song "Home", risking waking up my sleeping passengers. i looked to my left to check if my brother woke up and then the rear view mirror to see if i had disturbed my cousin and her boy friend Kenji cuddled under a blanket in the rear seat.

I realised this how i wish life was, an endless road and a powerful and comfortable car and no worries. It was late May 2007 and my cousin had just come from Tokyo where she had grown up and was in India to meet us relatives before she moved to the States to pursue medicine. She and Kenji had come to Delhi and rented an Honda Accord and drove down to Jodhpur. they stayed around for a few days and we conned mom to letting us stay out for a night when we went to Kayalana lake and sat around in the moonlight drove around the outskirts of the city and to the fort and then drove to Chamunda for a very late dinner/early brakefast. then for two days we lazed around the house and after that it was time for them to leave. They had to get to Kerala so that she did a circuit of the rest of the family and then flew on to the States from there.

We came up with the brilliant plan of driving down to Mumbai via Kumbhalgarh, Ranakpur, Udaipur, Ahmedabad and then Mumbai. I drove most of the way, with Kenji spelling me from time to time we stopped at quaint village towns had tea and food at the most awesome Dhabas. visited some amazing Forts and temples. listened to our favorite music and had such an awesome time it was the best few days of the last year. and through out it all the Accord performed faultlessly going thru the motions, delivering speeds when the roads were well paved and open and cosseting us in comfort when the roads got bad but never causing any problems and giving more than average fuel economy of 10 Kmpl. i would write about the Temples of Ranakpur, or the forts and palaces at Udaipur and Kumbhalgrah but it would be like a travelogue. there were a couple of points when we thought we were in trouble but the car always had the answers to the questions thrown at it. once when we were driving from Ahmadabad to Mumbai at night, every one was sleeping and i was driving, this man carying a cycle on his shoulder climbed over the divider separating the oncoming lane and ran across our lane, it was dark and so i sawe him only when the headlights of the car fell on him and he was in the middle of the lane i hit the brakes hard and the car dropped its nose, dumping Tanya from the backseat into the space between the seats, and tugging at every one else's seat belt but it stopped with meters to spare and every one was safe with out drama. only one instance when it proved an expemlary long distance partner and as for the looks it looks stunning, with the over messy rear and all. It always got us looks and smiles from other motorist even though it was plainly not that exotic and with its yellow plates the car was a rental.

thanx Honda for a great product and some excellent memories.