I’ve started listening to Car Talk on NPR, because I ummm, like the Michigan accent of Click and Clack and because I’m --for the most part -- car illiterate, which is quite unbecoming of me especially since I now work in the automotive industry. With Click and Clack I can satisfy my penchant for nasal accents and learn about camshafts and crankshafts simultaneously.

Anyway, a woman from Oregon calls in and poses quite a stumper to the brothers. She was in Sicily for 4 months -- where the driving is a notch below that exhibited on the Italian mainland -- and she was surprised at the lack of road-rage. She noticed that no one seemed angry or annoyed at each other even though cars were speeding on the pavement and chaos reigned supreme. She observed that there were a few occasions when she did see people shouting and flailing there arms around, but it seemed as if they were following a face-saving scrip rather than any genuine ill-will.

The brothers were stumped. Well, the situation closely parallels that in Bombay. If you think Italians drive badly, than wait till you visit India! There are cars on the pavements, bicycles, mopeds, rickshaws, victorias, and cars vying for the same portion of very limited roadway. Stop signs and yielding for oncoming traffic doesn’t exist; it’s a well practiced bluffing game. i.e. “I drive a truck so you better stop” or “I’m not stopping so you better.” It’s amazing that traffic move, but there is order in the chaos and all is well with the world.

But there’s no road rage! There might be a few face-saving arguments, but I’ve never heard of anyone shooting, hitting, or striking someone because of a traffic violation. Ok, I heard of one incident, but the protagonist was an American Investment Banker working for J.P. Morgan. His Mercedes was scratched by a passing car and the banker made the mistake of grabbing the elderly driver and snarling “You bloody Indian…” Standard operating practice in India suggests that one not show animosity to the elderly; indeed all interactions with the elderly should be respectful and civil. The banker must have been sleeping through his cultural acclimatization class because “you bloody Indian” did nothing to soothe the rising tempers of the onlookers. Said banker was quickly made cognizant of the unique Indian ability to suddenly materialize en masse (quite easily accomplished in a country of 1 billion) and newspaper reports suggest that the banker was quite glad when the police arrived later on.

So why isn’t there road rage in countries where driving conditions are so chaotic?

I submit:

1) Honking the car horn is very cathartic and releases a lot of frustration and stress. You have no idea how comforting it is to sound that horn! All the worries and slights of the road disappear with a tootle of the horn.

2) Intense competitiveness and a false sense of machismo isn’t part of culture/socialization (though that is now changing). It’s not really an affront to one’s pride to be cut-off in traffic; rather it suggests that one wasn’t really wasn’t aware of one’s surroundings.

QUALITY OF PRODUCE:

Next topic of discussion courtesy of the economists at Marginal Revolution: why are fresh vegetables/produce of such low quality in the US?

Sure those tomatoes look delicious; but they taste like Styrofoam. French apricots are addictive (I’m exhibit A); American apricots taste like rubber.

Is it because they are genetically modified? Are consumers more interested in form over substance? Because of the excess use of fertilizers? Are American farmers lazy? The love of a farmer can’t be matched by the use of machines?

I’ve always been surprised at the lack of good chocolate, cheese, and produce in the US. I’ve had far better $10 meals in Europe in India than almost anywhere in the US? What gives? You can get a fairly good expensive meal in America, but spending that kind of money on --what is easily available-- outside the US for a fraction of the price spoils the enjoyment.

Even Whole Foods/Wild Oats don’t match up; rather they show just how successfully capitalism can co-opt an alternative movement.

Thoughts, anyone?