good motoring
Gloves for the driver
H. Kishie Singh

THE British have a profusion of quirky habits. Wearing gloves is one of them. The lords and ladies wear them. Jeeves, the butler, wears them. So does the chauffeur. The butler also wears a rather splendid uniform, as does the chauffeur. Gloves and uniforms lend a touch of class. After all, if you drive his lordship’s Rolls or Bentley, it is only fitting to be attired properly. A chauffeur is one who drives a car, especially for the rich, important and famous (dictionary definition). It doesn't happen in this country.

The other day I realised the importance of gloves. Actually it was a news item that showed a survey which said that a computer keyboard was dirtier than a toilet seat. Disgusting, isn't it? E coli and S aureus were two of the bacteria found in the keyboards. If that was the condition of a computer keyboard, how much dirty would a steering wheel be ?

The answer came to me as I waited in my car in the Sector 9 parking lot, as my wife went about her shopping. Its great fun to observe the circus that is the Sector 9 parking lot. A limousine pulled up and stopped right in the centre of the parking lot. And why not? It was an expensive car of a rich and important person. A lovely lady exited from the rear, in her flowing Patiala chiffon salwar.

As she went shopping, the driver, nowhere near being a chauffeur, just a driver, parked the car where it prevented other cars from parked properly. The driver got out and leaned on the rear boot casually. He was wearing hawai chappals, jeans and a T- shirt. He had the demeanour of a three-wheeler rickshaw driver rather than the driver of an expensive car. As the driver waited for memsahib to come back, he cleaned his left ear with the car key. He checked the key carefully with its offerings, wiped it with his fingers and proceeded to clean his right ear. That done, he again wiped the key clean and put it away in his pocket.

Now, you see, these are the hands that handle the steering wheel on the swanky car. Later, the sahib would be driving the car himself and handle the extremely unhygienic steering wheel. Time for a pair of gloves. Definitely for the sahib, if not for the driver.

Happy motoring.