Are women better drivers?

 

 

         In a year, around 36,000 accidents occur in Kerala.

         Statistics in Kerala show that of these traffic accidents, 98% are caused by male drivers. Does it mean 2% are caused by women? NO, in 2% accidents, the drivers are not known. They are hit & run cases!

         Statistics also show that of the total 75 lakh licence holders in the State, only 16% are women and of the 86 lakh registered vehicles, only 9% are owned by women!       

         From the 1.2 lakh women drivers, no one has caused an accident! So, it is safe to assume that women are better drivers than men?

         It is found that women drivers are

1. more cautious, they are not rash

2. do not over-speed

3. obey traffic rules and fear violations

4. do not drink & drive

5. often wear seat belts

       

        However, almost 40% women fail the driving test in the first trial while over 80% men pass their first tests! Why is that? Are women are more scared at the time of testing their driving skills? Also, women take more time to park their vehicles, do not like putting on loud music while driving and hardly ever increase speed beyond 80 km/hr. Men are confident of themselves and in a society where women are perceived as the weaker sex, women drivers are scorned by men. In fact, I have heard it from male drivers several scoffing remarks about women drivers. 

       Whenever a car is slow and my vehicle get stuck behind it, my husband says without fail- "That car at the front? I bet the driver is a woman," much to my chagrin! When I drive, I get a lot of stares and even some dirty comments. If a car driven by women take some time to move after the traffic signal has turned green, then she is scared off with deafening horns from the cars behind her, of course from male drivers. I have seen women two wheelers put to much trouble by men. I once saw a lady in a scooter, scared out of her senses by a man in a bullet who intentionally overtook her through the extreme left, quite close to he. He intentionally swerved the bullet to frighten the lady. She too swerved to avoid collision, slid and fell. When someone pulled her up from underneath her scooter, she went into tremors and vomitted. The cruel man who did this had vanished by then. The injuries on the lady were small, but I heard her swear, "Oh, my husband tells me not to drive this, I'll never do it again!"

         When I was in college, a smart girl used to come in a scooty to college. We admired her quite a lot. One day, she was covered in soot when she reached the college. She went straight to the toilet to clean up. When she came back very wet, I asked her what happed. She told me with a smile- "My neighbour, a boy stdying in engineering college thre cow dung at me!" I was shocked. "Why?" I asked. She replied- "Oh, jealousy. He does not have a vehicle and has to go in a bus to college every day! He tried to hide after he threw dung at me, but I saw him." I feared she may stop riding her scooty from that day. But the next day morning, I saw her riding merrily inside the gate of Women's College with a bigger bag than usual. "Now I pack up an extra pair of dress, you know!" she explained with a wink. 

         I wish women in Kerala had half her spirit!

 

Being Religious

Being Religious

              From childhood, I have been groomed by my parents to be religious. Lighting lamp at Puja room every day at dusk and saying loud prayers were compulsory. My parents, my sisters and brother are very religious, and so was I till yesterday.

              So…what happened yesterday?

              Two horrible experiences made me retrospect and I realized something at the age of 53- that you don’t have to go to temples for God’s blessings. First experience was my first visit to Sabarimala. As SP in Pathamthitta District in 1995-96, two Sabarimala seasons passed peacefully with no major accidents or incidents. A lady District Collector had gone beyond Pampa saying it was on official duty which the devotees objected vigorously that time. So, as SP I too thought of traversing beyond Pampa to carry out my official responsibilities, which the High Court objected and denied me permission. I still remember Justice Smt Usha calling me to her and asking me- “are you very particular to go to Sabarimala?” and me replying- “Madam, to carry out my duties…” which she interrupted and said, “Don’t worry, we are posting a Special Officer in Sannidhanam from this year onwards. You just remotely control him from Pampa.” That day, the feminist in me took a decision that I’ll never go to Sabarimala in my life since Lord Ayyappa is, appears or proclaimed as anti-woman. But I reversed this decision this year when my 80 year old mother insisted that she wants to go one last time to Sabarimala. My father climbed the holy hill more than 40 times and was an ardent devotee. My mother went six times and desired for her seventh visit. She weeps with emotion when she talks of her last visits and often says that when leaving Sabarimala she feels like leaving her child alone in the wild forest.

              The Motor Vehicle Department has started Safe Zone Project in Sabarimala 5 years back. This year we extended it to 300 kilometers to help the pilgrims and to provide ease in traffic. The 70 patrols and 500 officers are on continuous duty since 14^th November. As head of Department, I went for the inauguration of Safe Zone in Elavunkal near Pampa. My mother tagged along wanting to see Ayyappa. She was on a strict vegan diet with plans to climb the hill for a month. I, being a vegetarian had to take no special ‘Vritham’. I obliged my mother and decided to climb the hill for the first time. My officers made a lot of arrangements for me and the police officers on duty were kind enough to help. So, after the inaugural function, I went to Pampa, did the preliminary puja of ‘irumudi kettu’ and took my mother up the hill. She went in a doli, I walked. It was 7 pm by the time we reached Sannidhanam. Without halting anywhere, we climbed the 18 holy steps, had a good darshan and retired to the room given to me.

              Next day at 5 am, we again went to the temple for darshan and immediately climbed down. Back in Trivandrum, the first news which greeted me was that my visit to Sabarimala was made into a controversy by the media! One newspaper wrote for 6 days continuously that Police stopped the other pilgrims and made special arrangements for me and my family members to climb the 18 steps. News went on saying ADGP will enquire, Minister will enquire, action will be taken, pilgrims were put to misery, Sreelekha abused her official positions etc, etc. A picture was also given which even I fail to decipher as me or my mother climbing the steps. Another media declared that only women above 60 (!) could go beyond Pampa and I violated the rule. This went on, putting my poor mother in distress. As usual, media’s mud-slinging went on with their hidden agendas, whatever they are, to peter out in due course. Anyway, this made me decide NEVER to go to Sabarimala again.

              The second incident happened very recently in Guruvayur. I went to the famous temple during one of my official visits to Thrissur and had to come back without seeing Guruvayurappan. I asked my officers and the Police Department for help in darshan since it was Sunday and the temple is overcrowded on Sundays with over 100 wedding ceremonies. I waited for someone to come for more than 30 minutes. I saw several known persons, in service & retired officers going in, accompanied by policemen wearing their blue shawls over the dhoti. I tried to go in without help, but it would have taken me minimum 2 hours for a short darshan standing in the queue. I called several people with pleas for help, no response! I asked Guruvayurappan what to do. He told me, “Why did you come here in the first place? Fool, I am not just here, I am everywhere. Just see me in your mind and pray. And don’t ever come here again!” I went back, weeping tears of joy. A great lesson was learnt! No VIP darshan, no controversies, no targeted media attacks! I prayed to the smiling Unnikrishnan who stood mischievously within my mind all my way back.

              I still believe in the power of God. I still pray a lot. In fact, every day. But if being religious means going to famous temples, then I stopped being religious. No more Guruvayur, Thiruppathi, Palani or Attukaal. God is omnipresent, omnipotent. Do good, be good and abide by whatever you think is correct and good for yourself and others. Then God will be there right next to you, helping you, guiding you and blessing you!

Thank you, Ayyappa…. Thank you Guruvayurappa…!!!!