It was a hot summer afternoon and we were almost at the end of our long shoot involving two cars for our show. We were shooting at one of the quieter parts near the Golf course extension road in Gurgaon and were even lucky enough to be offered some lunch from a nearby temple. My producer was driving one of the shoot cars so that we could save time. Suddenly as I was waiting to drive for a shot, I noticed a scuffle at the distance. As I drove closer, one burly looking individual is looking to attack my producer and is an uncontrollable rage. He looked high on alcohol but even if it wasn't, I doubt he would be any less rabid. He was with a friend and as he looked to dangerously overtake from the left, my producer applied the brakes and the bike hit the rear bumper. There was no sign of injury to him or his friend but all that didn't matter to him, he was just out to take revenge with a capital R.
He was swinging around wildly looking for something to hurt my producer. He didn't pay heed to our apologies as he wanted to quench his thirst for blood. He slammed his feet on the driver's side door and then threatens to damage our camera equipment. We realize that talking to this individual would make little sense especially with the camera equipment, cars and our own lives at risk. He even tried following us for a bit and again looked to throw something at our cars as we drove away. Now there were 4 of us and maybe we could have tried to make peace. But not one of us dared to engage or provoke him further as we saw something extremely dangerous in his behaviour. It wasn't just simple Road Rage. This individual intoxicated or not, was ready to seriously injure someone or maybe even kill. This might be a tad speculative of course, but I strongly feel he looked like he would not be afraid to use a knife or a gun in such a situation.
What's worrying is that things on the road in Delhi and NCR are moving beyond just a verbal tiff to heavy physical assault and even murder. I do think this is more than a fit of rage but more like a point to prove who is mightier. Logic cannot make sense of these acts as at the end of the day, even if the accident results in serious injury or death, the wild rage that follows solves nothing. I have heard many versions of why this is so common in the Delhi/NCR region; some say it is a cultural behaviour issue, others say the real estate boom in places like Gurgaon has resulted in economic disparity resulting in frustration.
It's a shame that our national capital and its surrounding regions continue to enhance it's unfriendly and unsafe image for it's citizens. Sensitizing the society is never an easy task and no car or bike user will never admit to suffering from road rage. I do think Road safety programs should include road rage as one of the discussion points before it becomes an everyday phenomenon in Delhi/NCR and spreads to other parts of India. After all, the 'Road Rage Capital of the World' tag is something Delhi and the NCR region would want to lose quickly.
Note: Image used for representational purpose.
