Traffic can get to your nerves. Specially if you drive in rush hours in India. People tend to ignore all the rules and cut you off every now and then. There are bicycles, cars, SUVs, mini-trucks, cranes and pedestrians trying to cross the road all at the same time.

I used to get extremely irritated on a 10 min bike ride to work, which turned into a 30 min ride because of all the traffic. After 30 mins of getting infuriated and name calling, I reached work or home in a pretty bad mood.

At last I accepted that traffic is not going to get better anytime soon, and I instead decided to change the way I look at it — as a Mario Level.

We all love Mario. Fighting the enemies, overcoming the obstacles, collecting points and power-ups and (may be) rescuing the Princess.

Now imagine the way Mario’s first level would be without all the obstacles.

Mario without the enemies

Playing this would be boring halfway, and I’ll never ever want to play this again.

This was the moment I realised that the obstacles and enemies weren’t the problem, in fact they were the reason Mario was so much fun. Without them there’s no fun. There’s no learning, no joy. Without obstacles Mario is boring.

Without obstacles Traffic (life) is boring.

That’s why Mario is like this —

Good old Mario

Now I view every signal-breaker as a surprise obstacle. He caught me off guard, I just learnt to always be aware of the opposite direction too. Someone coming from wrong side ? Great. I now know how to handle that.

This made daily commute fun. I hardly get angry because of traffic now. I don’t take rule — breakers personally. In fact I no longer expect anyone to be following rules. I expect anybody to be coming from any-side, anytime, without any common sense or logic.

Expecting obstacles in Traffic (life) keeps you prepared.

I don’t break any rules and don’t let my guard down, because who knows what this level may throw at me.

The point is not that its ok for others to break rules, its that I don’t need to destroy my day just because someone else decided to cut me off. My mood is hardly ruined because of traffic now.

So,

Bad traffic is just a Mario level with advanced obstacles

Obstacles are there to challenge you, help you to learn to be extra aware

Don’t expect others to drive sensibly

Don’t take it personally

Don’t break traffic rules. Its dangerous enough when others do it.

Tell me what you think of this.

P.S. Traffic is no game, but it should not be a reason for daily stress.