It was a busy evening. I was waiting for the light to turn green at crowded White church square and I saw a white Jaguar, trying really hard to make its way right next to me. I glanced at the driver’s seat and saw an irritated Man in his late 50’s, fighting his best not to scratch the rear view mirror of his car with mine. I wasn’t worried, as my car’s rear view mirror had already seen 9 years of Indore’s traffic. It is full of artistic scratches; Indore’s traffic gave it over these years.
(Source : clickindia.com)
Finally after making it through, he was able to slice his car between the ‘Bhiya’s Auto and my car. He still looked tensed as he was now thinking how to get his car out of the traffic when the light is going to be green. There is one funny thing about white Church Square; the signal gets so packed, that it feels like it opens up to a Marine drive and all the people are waiting to just rush in there. The timer feels like it will make your hair grey while you wait for it to come down to zero. So, coming back to the Uncle who is waiting in his gleaming white Jaguar, fearing it might get scratched; sighs a sign of relief when the Bhiya in the Auto signals him to go first. As I wasn’t in so much of hurry, I thought to make matters little more interesting for him. So I gunned my car the moment he was trying to get his way out and he got shit scared. I smiled, waved right back at him, signaled him to go first and then I went.
The point here is, looking at the chaotic traffic we have in this city, do we really need to travel in a car that costs in the north of half a crore of rupees?
Who Drives Them and Why?
You need to be a Superman if you really want to avoid the hellish traffic in Indore, at its peak hours. If you are not a Superman, like most of us are, then you need a car that you can drive anywhere. People, who are so rich that their basic car is Jaguar, are an exception in this case. They don’t have any other option. For normal mortals, what serves their purpose as Maruti 800, their’s is Jaguar. You can find these people relaxing at the back of their filthy expensive cars, giving a middle finger to traffic while their driver sweat his body out to battle the traffic and emerge as a winner without a single scratch to the car. Then there are ones, who have secondary car in their home but they do want to show off their newly acquired piece of machinery and they just venture out in the traffic and have a hard time to wade a clear path through traffic. There are also two types of people here; The ones who truly love their cars, are of that Uncle types, who was scared to death and the other’s are too busy showing off, that they care a dime if the car gets damaged or not.
Source : Malwa Supercar Club, Indore
Do You Really Need To Drive 50 Lakh Worth Of Car In Traffic Like Indore?
The answer is yes and no both. For people who have no other option but to drive a Jaguar or a Mercedes, because the other car they have in their house is prolly a Bentley or Rolls. So for them, it becomes sort of necessity. But for the other 80-90% people, it makes a lot of sense to switch to a car that gives you all the basic requirements; which in Indore’s traffic, is an Air Conditioner, and nothing beyond it. It makes a lot of sense to drive a car which is small, gives you good space to sit 4, and takes you from point A to B. There is lot of hue and cry about small cars not passing the Euro Tests and all, but practically speaking, do you really think you are going to cross 60 KMPH in peak hours of traffic in Indore? I don’t think so.
(Source : TeamBHP)
I would like to conclude by saying that a car like Tata Nano actually makes a lot of sense in Indore, especially during the peak hours of traffic. I know most of you won’t like to be seen travelling in a car like Nano or Maruti 800; but frankly speaking, most of us are not celebrities that people will be remembering our faces and talking for days in malls and offices, that they saw us driving a Tata Nano; right?
There are lot many practical choices in the market that makes a lot of sense in Indore’s traffic. Thought the best option is to always go for a public transport, but that needs to be polished a lot in Indore and till then, you have to resort to small cars.
New models of Cars like Datsun Redi-GO, Renault Kwid, and Tata Tiago are tailor made for use in the city and they are not going to cost you a bomb. You can get your hands on in one of these in the south of 5 lakh rupees. And yes, they look lot better than Nano, if you still have a problem with that car!
Story by : Rahul Cornelius
