Darwin Award

The other day Rod and I saw a serious potential candidate for a Darwin Award, the honour bestowed on those who "do a service to humanity by removing themselves from the gene pool". We were driving along the NH8, the motorway between Gurgaon and Delhi, where the official speed limit is 50mph, but the actual speed you do depends upon whether you're in a car, tractor or rickshaw with a two stroke engine. Some of the vehicles which use the NH8 only dream of a top speed of 50mph, many more see the speed limit as something which only applies to other drivers, not them. But it was not the speed at which this potential Darwin candidate was travelling that caught our attention...

In the lane next to us was a guy on a motorbike. Maybe he'd rushed his morning routine, because he had failed to do his stretches in the comfort of his own home. So he was doing them on the motorway, while he was riding his motorbike. First he reached his right arm around his back, placing the back of his hand on his opposite hip, while his left hand held the bike handle. Then he changed sides, repeating with his left hand. While we thought this was a little odd, at least he had one hand on the controls. Which he did not, when he joined both hands behind his back and opened out the front of his shoulders by stretching back. We thought we'd seen everything, but then he took his phone out of his pocket and started texting. While riding a motorbike at 50mph on the motorway...

As Raju was driving our car and Rod was a backseat passenger, he tried to take a picture with his telephone. I don't have a problem with passengers using their phones, I just object when it's the one allegedly in control of the fast moving vehicle who does it. Our Darwin candidate spotted Rod and took his helmet off, possibly so he would look more dashing in the photo. While riding a motorbike at 50mph on the motorway... Rod was unwilling to take the shot, because he didn't think it appropriate to do anything that might encourage this guy to attain his Darwin Award sooner rather than later. But it's only a matter of time...