Drivers and their style:

Well, this is not about F1 drivers; it is about the bus drivers of Chennai. Don’t mistake them, they are no less talented.

Since my university is situated in the outskirts of the city, I catch the buses frequently to go to city. I have always been fascinated by the Buses. Whenever I get into the buses, I try to catch a seat in the extreme front; thereby I can catch a good view of the road ahead.

As I have travelled over years, the actions and style of various drivers have caught my attention. Most of the bus drivers have a unique and amazing way of driving. Some are cool, some are real funny. I have just picked the best amongst them.

This guy driving a 500 deluxe bus was frail and thin. He had a pack of matchboxes in front of him. He is the ONLY guy in the world who uses both sides of the matchsticks. If the road is empty ahead, he takes out the matchstick and uses the wooden side to remove particles stuck in his teeth. He kept doing that till he approached traffic. When the traffic approaches, he flips the matchstick and immediately lights the beedi that he takes from his pocket. He gets a sudden rush through his veins and overtakes other vehicles. As he passes that vehicle, he looks at the driver of other vehicle and puffs the smoke out at him signaling him that he is defeated.

There is another kind of breed among the bus drivers in Tamil Nadu.These drivers keep their one leg over the engine and control the remaining three pedals with one foot. They remove their shirt and hang it in the seat. They enjoy the breeze and the old classic Tamil music as they drive. Probably that is what you call Business with Pleasure!!

Some bus drivers cannot drive without chatting with the conductors, especially the drivers of the Volvo A.C Buses. One day, I heard the discussion they were having. They were discussing the TV programmes they watch. The conductor said “Serials have become boring. So nowadays I watch only channels like Discovery, Nat Geo, and Animal Planet”. Even the bus driver said he does the same, so they started discussing the animals that come in Animal Planet. At one point, the driver removed his hands from the steering wheel and raised his hands wide towards the conductor standing beside him and said the African elephants raise their Trunk very wide. GOSH! I was terrified .The roads were filled with cars and he just lifted his hands to imitate an elephant from animal planet??!!

This Bus driver, is arguably the best. He got my Adrenaline pumped up. There was a Traffic Signal in the Highway and both the lanes were filled with cars and there might have been around 30 cars between the bus and the signal. As the red Lights turned Green, He rammed his accelerator pedal hard and turned the steering wheel to left throwing the people standing in bus to the right. He exited the road and entered the muddy area filled with bumps. Neglecting the bumps and potholes, He throttled hard and raced ahead. After crossing several vehicles, he drifted back to the road and flew ahead. He had just overtaken 18vehicles within a minute. He was simply brilliant. Loved his Driving!!

Whatever their style might be, all of them did one thing perfectly.ie Driving!! They have amazing reflexes and have avoided accidents that could have happened due to the negligence of other drivers. If they sense a competition in the field they don’t rest until they win. It’s nothing new, only another proof to justify all tamilians have racing in their blood.

So, if you want to see Real racing, it’s not necessary to go to a Race track, just come by Chennai, I can show you plenty of them.