Thoughts on a rainy morning: On the unfairness that life is.

Now that we are past mid-winter, the mornings are less dark and ominous than they typically are from late in November.  A rainy morning against a partially lit sky is immensely a pleasure compared to the trepidation with which I had to navigate the roads a few weeks ago.

I was lost in thoughts and driving practically in an auto-pilot mode when suddenly out of nowhere a Porsche appeared.  "Quite some speed on these curves when rainy" I thought to myself.  And, when it seemed safe enough, I slowed down and eased up to the right to let the driver pass me.  He sure did. In a nanosecond.  Vrooooom!

Thanks to all the bends, I never spotted the Porsche again.  Until the traffic light.  The vrooooom had been silenced by the red light!

Soon, we went our different ways.  The sky alternated between dark clouds and clear blue openings.  Heavy downpour for a couple of minutes followed by a calm and clear blue sky with sunlight.  It seemed to be as moody as a young woman with acute PMS :)

But, even that young woman can be charming, right?  And that is what happens when there is rain and sunlight--a wonderful rainbow.  It was a partial rainbow that didn't last long.  But, a glorious one to welcome the day.

It seemed that I had exhausted the day's quota of having the road all to myself--I found myself at the tail end of a procession, with a farm-equipment-hauling-truck all the way in front, followed by two vehicles, and then another truck, then another two vehicles and then me.

And then came a pick-up.

Like the Porsche driver earlier, this fellow too was not happy being at some other vehicle's rear.  It amused me that he didn't seem to understand that he couldn't get very far when in a convoy of these many vehicles and on a road without a passing lane. And when raining, with all the spray from the traffic.

But, stupid is as stupid does.  He passed me only to jump in before me.  I decided to give more space between him and me, reminded of the lessons from the defensive driving class that I once took.

A couple miles later, the pick-up passed two more vehicles, and was now kissing the truck's butt.  We were about seven miles from my university, and I wondered if eventually he too, like the Porsche driver, will notice me pulling up even with him at the traffic light.

When a chance opened up, he passed the truck and one vehicle.  The lead vehicle was the same--the farm-equipment hauling truck. Behind that was one pick-up, and then our character.

No more chances for that driver to pass.  We neared the traffic light in town and I headed to the left-turn lane.  Yes, we pulled even.  I so wanted to look at him and grin. But, I didn't.

When it comes to driving, traffic lights stop us, irrespective of the speeds our vehicles are capable of, and irrespective of our own desires to speed.  Unless one is willing to jump the red light, of course, and very, very few rational people ever attempt that.

Traffic lights are the great equalizers of society--we understand that we are all in it together whether we drive a beaten up old car, or a truck, or a Porsche.

If only all aspects of life were the same way. If only.

People are differently-abled to begin with.  Some are born with Porsches in their garages, while some live in garages.  Most of us follow the laws because we want to, and some obey the laws because they don't know how to escape them.  And then there are others who are rich and powerful to write their own laws and find loopholes in the laws that most of us dutifully follow.  But, there is no traffic light to stop them at all.  Armed with money, influence, and lawyers, they jump the red with ease.

But then who said life is far, eh!