27 Oct 2007

On the roads, by the night

I had the most challenging ride on my bike today. On a rainy night, on roads which had more than a fair bit of potholes, it was an exhilarating, if not slightly dangerous journey back home. Apart from the disoriented road sense in the darkness, when even known roads sometimes seem strange and forbidden, I just realised how useless the side mirrors are. Yes, you do get an idea of whether there is someone behind you, looking at the reflection of the headlights on the mirrors, but apart from that, it really is not possible to see exactly what the vehicle is, or how far it is from you.

So most of it is guess work. The wet road and the sudden pits that somewhat resemble the Martian craters you see on the satellite images, make life all the more harder. At every road crossing, people will be scuttling across even though you have the green signal. Under low visibility and stuck in between fast moving vehicles, braking suddenly to avoid hitting them is ominous and extremely risky. To top it all up, the government buses and trucks move in a completely reckless manner and avoiding them is such a nuisance.

I have driven in the night plenty of times but somehow I was really relieved to get back home safely today. There are days when you will feel completely out of sorts doing things that are usually good at. Perhaps, today was just such a day.

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