Road Rules

"Hey, welcome to Japan!", Vikram hugged him, as Anand stepped out of the ticket barricades at the Nishi-Nasuno station.

Vikram briefed Anand about the town and the surroundings, as he drove Anand to their dorm.

"Why don't you overtake him...", Anand couldn't resist interrupting Vikram. They had been trailing a mini-van for the past 10 or so minutes at a very slow speed.
"Aare, nahi yaar... idhar yellow line hai...", said Vikram pointing to the yellow line that ran the middle of the lonely road. "pakda gaye tho... I have to spend my whole month's salary on the fine..."
"But its such a lonely road, who is going to catch us?"
"No, No, No... rules are important, and moreover, that mini-vans are typically driven by old people here, I don't want to scare the budda", Vikram trailed the mini-van till the end of the road.
Vikram stopped at a stop sign on a very empty road, saw his speed-o-meter needle hit 0, and then moved again.
Anand instinctively looked at his watch. It was 2AM.

X--------------------------------------X--------------------------------------X

Anand was driving them to work in his brand new Honda.
Vikram was restless as they were late for a presentation.

"Aare, hit the gas man, we are late...", Vikram sipped from a can of coke, as Anand maneuvered the car on the high traffic lane.
Anand overtook a truck on the wrong side of the road, and was above to steer clear, when he noticed the lights turning orange.
Anand's adrenaline soared, as Vikram pressurized him, "Go, Go, Go...!". Anand hit the gas, and they went clear through a red-light.

"Damn", Anand kept repeating, as the Police car pulled them over the dusty side-lane. Vikram kept looking at his watch.

"For all the trouble of chasing us down, they are gonna charge a bomb...", Anand was now more worried about the fine.
Just as the policeman neared the car, Vikram said, "Let me deal with him", and jumped out of the car.

A few minutes went by. Anand was impatiently watching Vikram Talking animatedly with the policeman, from inside his air-conditioned car.

When he could take it no more, Anand stepped out of the car to listen to their conversation.

"Sir, you know the difficulty sir, the fine would almost be 400 Rupees...", dragged the constable in a worn out uniform and black shoes that had turned green due to lack of attention.
"What 400? no, no... bus pachaas doonga..."
"okay sir, give 150, you know for all the radio, and chasing... give 150 sir.."
"nahi, nahi, bahut hai, pachas..."

The argument continues in the blistering hot Indian terrain.