This isn’t just another Magazine Feature of the ‘COSMOPOLITAN’ kind nor a Celebrity Endorsement, but about a ‘Voguish’ Lady driving a Maruti Zen who is awarded the exclusivity of being the First ever Self-Driven Lady to be featured in [DRIVOBLOG|➨]™.
A ‘Heavily Accessorized Flair-Diva’, she reflects the unpretentious [DRIVOBLOG|➨]™ attitude. She carries her world in her Vehicle: Garments, Footwear, Documents, and Cosmetics etc. The need for mobility sees her shuttling across the city for work, meeting clients, shopping, catching up with friends and closing the day by chilling out at Southern Avenue Boulevard [Notified as “Best Place on Earth” by [DRIVOBLOG|➨]™].
The City is Kolkata where the traffic environment in particular is something not conducive for even Gentlemen to Drive, leave alone Women especially when ones vehicle is precariously surrounded by unpredictably swerving Taxis, Buses, LCVs & Autorickshaws and most of its drivers are impatiently frustrated and foul-mouthed, both in character (slang) and content (gutkha).
Admittedly, it’s a common notion among men that driving is not a ‘girl-thing’ but Sanjukta stands out as a misnomer of sorts. Let’s face it, women respond to situations differently than men and it reflects quite remarkably in their driving behavior.
After all it may not be a ‘Lady-thing’ to breach petty Traffic Signals, but then life gets a lot easier if one can nullify the [No] out of the – [No U-Turn], [No Turn], [No Entry], [No Stopping], [No Parking], etc.
Thanks to the unpretentious consent of the Traffic Cops who have got used to witnessing her committing the deliberate transgression. Gladly amused, one of them has even gone to the extent of providing his Mobile number to her, just in case she gets hauled up in the act of committing the overwhelming indulgence. Well the rules never go out of the window, they just get annulled momentarily by the blink of an eyelid.
One factual incident in brevity takes us to a situation where a vehicle full of evidently-drunk 20 something are aimlessly tailgating a cherry-red Maruti Zen. They have just spotted a seemingly vulnerable lady driving it and are scouring for some cheap thrill, least aware of the catastrophic conclusion it would lead them into. The lady driving turns out to be Sanjukta and with no reason they are signaling her to stop. After a number of unsuccessful attempts they manage to bang her vehicle at the rear. Sensing the imminent danger of an uncomfortable situation, she reverses her vehicle in reflex and speeds off, leaving the perpetrators in awe with a smashed headlight and that was so much for that day.
The day after sees her being followed again and this time they manage to pull over in front of her vehicle and block her way, eventually forcing her to stop. They get out of their vehicles and a verbal altercation follows with the perpetrators demanding monetary compensation for the ‘alleged–damage’ that she purportedly caused the day before, never-mind their deliberate intimidation.
In the interest of averting a predicament, she offers to drive them to a Vehicle-Workshop she knew of and make the ‘settlement’ for the alleged damage. Excited at the prospect of easy-money and seemingly achieve ‘company’ of the ‘Bold & Beautiful’ Lady, they agree to hop in her vehicle, leaving their vehicle behind (as suggested by her). What we see thereafter is Sanjukta driving the entire Gang straight into the premises of the nearest Police Station. Moments later, in the next scene we see a crowd gathered around the predatory vehicle with all of its green-house broken.
No prizes for guessing how that hapenned.
In this Big Bad World it’s quite deferential to see a Bold, Confident and Un-muted woman having her way around in Style and Wits!!
