Wanted: Peace

We all hanker for peace. But what are we doing to make the world a more peaceful place?

- Arun Kumar Natha

During my childhood, we lived in a small colony of a few streets and less than a hundred families. As we were the early movers into the colony, we knew most of the people residing there. We used to address each one of them as brother, sister, uncle or aunt, as the case may be. I was in my pre-teen and all I did was to play around with my neighbours.

Mani Anna, an autorickshaw driver used to visit my neighbour’s home often. He had his own style of driving the auto. I used to be very fascinated by the way he drove. In fact, I used to know the moment he entered our street as his auto had such a unique sound that my ears would catch it. The best thing was that whenever he visited our neighbour's house, he used to give joyrides to the children of the house. Occasionally I too got a chance to experience a joyride in the same auto. This used to be a very thrilling experience for me, mostly owing to the speed at which he drove.

From then on, driving a vehicle has become my passion. I was simply inspired by the passion with which Mani Anna used to drive. The control, comfort, precision and, most importantly, the style with which I drive – everything was learnt from him. A decade later, I got my first car. It was such a happy moment to drive my own vehicle the way I wanted. I enjoyed my long drives as well as my drives to work.