I have always prided myself on my civic sense. I wait patiently for the pedestrian signal to turn green even when people all around me are dashing across the incoming vehicles to cross the road. I make it a point to walk on the footpaths, whenever possible. But that day I surprised myself. I was getting late for office and there was not a taxi in sight. I must confess that I was so desperate that if I had had a gun I wouldn't have hesitated to force another passenger out of a cab at gunpoint :-)

I had almost given up when I saw a cab cruising past. Hoping against hope, I flagged it down. Usually, the cab drivers drive to one side of the road before stopping. But this one was not a stickler for rules. He stopped right in the middle of the road. And I, like a fool, threw all caution to the winds as I dashed across the road - directly in the path of another incoming cab. It was just my luck that the cab wasn't driving at a breakneck speed or else I would have landed in a hospital - in God knows what state. The driver of the second cab braked in time. I stepped back in horror and let him pass. Needless to say, I didn't look at him because I knew the fault was all mine.

But as I stepped into the cab, I resolved to be more calm in the face of delays because as I never tire of telling others 'it is better to reach late than never'.