Parking maketh a man
How we drive says a lot about us

By Cecil Pinto

We all know the phrase, ‘Big car – small appendage’. This is mostly
true. A man who is insecure about his manliness tries to compensate by
buying an oversized car. But we are not taking into account here that
ownership of a big car isn’t always a free choice. One may inherit a
huge car from a rich relative, or one may have a huge family, or one
may have five dogs like my friend Annirudha, or one may be
transporting a lot of people around for money.

In other words ownership is sometimes not in one’s hands. It’s not
important how big it is but what you do with it. So although size does
matter we shall not concentrate on that but rather analyze usage to
understand male mentality. Don’t forget we are talking about cars.

Now if you are planning to marry a particular man, or employ him, or
do major business with him, it would pay well to observe his car
habits for a few days. By car habits I don’t mean just driving but
more importantly, parking.

Come with me for a tour around Panjim city. Let’s start off from near
Magsons supermarket in Miramar. Both sides of the inside road have
large and prominent No Parking signboards. This does not deter anyone
except the few good souls who park their cars little further, near the
rickshaw stand, where there is abundant space. The well heeled Magsons
customers feel status bound to park their cars bang in front of the
supermarket entrance – right under the No Parking signboard. Maybe
they suffer from the rich man’s disease, gout, and therefore have to
step out of their car directly into the supermarket without walking
even a few meters. But why does their car have to be parked there for
the duration?

Naturally this attitude causes traffic chaos the entire day in this
narrow road near Magsons but these drivers wouldn’t be bothered. Think
carefully. Would you like to marry, employ or do business with someone
who is either ignorant, arrogant or irresponsible - or all three?

Move little further to Red Rosary School at about 1.30 pm when school
gets over for the day. A whole army of small cars and two wheelers,
driven by parents, is awaiting the kids to transport them home.
Everybody parks a good distance from the school. Despite the seeming
confusion there is a large degree of politeness and civic sense here.
People give way to others graciously. There are no ego issues that
lead to traffic snarls. This is also largely true even outside schools
like Don Bosco or Immaculate Conception or Mustifund. Despite being
located in very busy city areas, with loads of traffic, somehow there
is a give and take during peak hours and a lot of mutual
understanding.

Contrast this with the scene near Sharada Mandir School at Miramar at
1.30 pm. The same mentality as that near Magsons seems to abound. Big
or fancy cars with drivers with even bigger egos – or gout. Very few
will park at a distance and walk the few meters, but most of them have
to be at the very entrance itself to pick up their wards. And given
the economic and social status of most of these parents this becomes a
high tension zone with each father showing his superiority by
thrusting his vehicle closer to the school than the other. Given a
chance I am sure they would drive right into the school and into the
specific classroom so their child is not inconvenienced.

Of course my perspective is a very middle class one. Perhaps these
high class folks have other concerns that I cannot comprehend. Perhaps
they are afraid of kidnapping. Yes that is a distinct possibility.
These children will certainly fetch a handsome ransom, certainly in
many lakhs, from their molly coddling rich parents. Maybe it is this
fear of kidnapping that makes them ensure that their children are
picked up right from the doorstep of the school. But then on the other
hand which kidnapper in his right mind would choose to kidnap a kid in
broad daylight in the presence of hundreds of parents and children and
even police officers. And more importantly even if they succeed how
will they get away with so many cars blocking their path?

Speaking of police officers there are some children here that are
picked up by government vehicles, some of them even sporting a siren.
Must be children of senior bureaucrats or ministers or something. It
would be interesting to know if these vehicles have been specifically
sanctioned for picking up children from school or are being misused.

Even the drivers who have been sent to pick up children have picked up
the arrogance of their masters.

This is true even on 18th June Road where arrogant husbands and
drivers obstruct traffic by just stopping and waiting while their
wives and mistresses go shopping. Why they can’t just find a parking
spot and do a bit of walking, like us lesser mortals, is beyond me.

Local TV Channels like Prudent and Goa 365 have the technological
capacity to show us Assembly proceedings and major festivals live. The
same technology could be used to solve traffic problems around Panjim.
Install three cameras each near Magsons, Sharada Mandir and on 18th
June road beaming moving images live. Have one dedicated channel all
day that just rotates through these live videos. Hopefully some
traffic discipline and civic consciousness will ensue, if nothing else
than through embarrassment. Also people all over Goa will be able to
see who is driving and parking what and how.

They can then better decide who to marry, employ or do business with.


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The column above appeared in Gomantak Times dated 2nd Sept 2010
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