The number of vehicles on our roads are increasing every day, but the space to park them remains the same. There are some multi level parking lots in the metros, but they’re hugely underutilized. People, somehow, are uncomfortable with the thought of parking three stories above ground and then walking to their destination – be it a shopping mall or an office. Everyone wants to park as close to their destination as possible. But multilevel parking facilities are few and far between. It’s the parking on the street that’s overflowing. I dread going to places where the parking areas are crammed with cars and bikes many times over. And this is especially true of areas that have commercial establishments and residential dwellings bunched together. Shopkeepers and residents somehow feel they own the road outside their house or shop. In many of the up-market residential areas, virtually every household has a quartet of cars at the very least – and, invariably, they have to park on the road. Anyone who has the misfortune of coming in late finds his parking space ‘taken.’ Some drivers just go around the block and park in the next available space. But not everyone is so accommodating. They want to park right at their doorstep! In a place like Delhi, letting someone else park in your ‘spot’ is demeaning and undermines your manhood. And so you simply won’t go and park elsewhere, even if the space is available. There are innumerable fights over parking, and very often they turn ugly. Fist fights are a dime a dozen. If the police were to check the fights at parking lots, they sure would have their hands full. I wonder why it appears so darn difficult to park a small distance away from your destination, and walk a few paces to get there. Walking a few hundred meters never killed anyone. In fact, it’s good for you – both mentally and physically. But no one is prepared to do that. The other day there was a report in the newspaper that a man was shot dead for asking another driver to move out of his ‘designated’ parking spot. It was public parking, so anyone can park where they find space, but the man insisted on the spot closest to his house. The fight got ugly, and the man paid with his life. He was shot with a country made .22 pistol. A .22 bullet costs about `40, and a single shot in the head was all that was required to snuff the life out of him – and all over a stupid parking spot. I don’t have figures, but road rage appears to have become one of the leading causes for incidents on our roads. In bumper-to-bumper traffic, someone is bound to nick your car at some point, and you’ve probably been guilty of it too sometime. No one does it on purpose, and everyone knows that but it doesn’t stop people from fighting in the middle of the road. An honest acceptance of one’s mistake, coupled with a promise to pay for the damage, can go a very long way in diffusing a potentially volatile situation. Sometime, you just need to ignore the situation. A man had a small FIDO figurine on his dashboard – of 7UP fame. When asked about his fondness for the animated character, he reveled that it had absolutely nothing to do with the character or the fizzy drink. FIDO, for him, meant ‘Forget It & Drive On!’ A wise move – let’s just say he never got into any fights. I don’t know if you can quantify what one man’s life is worth, but I’m pretty sure it’s more than the 40 bucks worth of metal that took his life...
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