Red Riding Hoods

Ever since most traffic signals in Pune started to count down to seconds left for the green signal, I've found myself playing a little game. Invariably, one will find people who cannot wait till the count goes down to zero and will set off 10 seconds early. The object of the game is to guess which of my fellow riders will jump the gun (should I call them sons-of-guns)?

My predictions are usually wrong and have at best uncovered a lot of my inherent biases. Pony tailed rider in leather biking gear on a jazzy bike? Highly likely to jump the signal. Result: Highly conscientious. Demure girl with typical bandit queen getup on Scooty? Looks like the obedient type with poor road confidence. Result: zooms off leaving us in smoke. Auto driver spitting on road - prediction: will fly off the handle. Result: of course he doesn't.

Further evidence that I have no idea how my race really functions. Of course, I'm battling my little devil (remember cartoons where you have a twin pair of a mini-Satan and a little cherubic angel debating such issues on either side?) which tells me to push off myself and follow their worthy example. Somehow it takes a lot of courage to stay back for 135 seconds and endure the honking of the irate truck driver behind. In such cases, I'm glad for the implied moral support of the dude with the pony tail on his bike.