Tales bumper stickers tell

When stuck in traffic jams anywhere, I while away the time reading the bumper stickers that some vehicles sport. It seems to be a fad of sorts with the younger generation and I must admit, sometimes helps relieve the monotony of crawling along in a sea of vehicles, bumper to bumper, amidst a cacophony of honking.

The creation of imaginative minds, bumper stickers are basically meant to amuse one. And they don’t fail. Living in Munnar, Kerala’s most popular hill-resort, I get to see quite a varied range of stickers as my car inches along in frequent traffic snarls. I make a mental note of the ones that strike me as being odd, funny or simply crazy. Inanities these may be, but they reflect the vivacity of youth.

I find that speeding, which is so dear to the young, is a recurring theme. Zoom like a rocket!, exhorts one. I’ve never been a tortoise, asserts another. ‘I’m raring to go!’, ‘I’m on the fast track – steer clear of me!’ come as a warning; ‘Time waits for none – I’m in a hurry!’

Sarcasm too plays out as a bumper sports ‘Slowcoach Travels’ (mischievously tacked on the rear of a crawling tourist coach). As I read ‘I’m chasing my dreams!’, I wondered aren’t we all doing that?

Here were some with sensible notes of caution: ‘Quit speeding – no one’s chasing you!’, ‘The slow are seldom the late!’, ‘If you can read this, you’re too close!’, and ‘Be a patient commuter, not a commuter patient!’

No doubt, our weakness for sounding the horn indiscriminately must have inspired these telling bumper stickers: ‘Quit honking – I’m not a goose!’, ‘I’m wearing earmuffs!’, ‘Never heard of deadly decibels?’ and ‘No honking auditions – I’m not listening!’

Some bumper stickers provide comic relief in the middle of an exasperating traffic jam and might have averted a few incidents of road rage: ‘My mind is clean – I change it often!’, ‘Can’t afford fuel – running on adrenaline!’, ‘I’m more airworthy than roadworthy!’ And yet others engage with you: ‘Howdy! You’re looking dowdy!, ‘Trying to steal my thunder?’

I also recall a vintage Studebaker with this message: ‘I’m out of fashion – but I can cash in on my age!’

Bumper stickers may be nonsensical and absurd, but I believe they reflect the carefree sentiments of the young and young-at-heart; their whims, fancies and exuberance. So as I crawl along in traffic jams, there’s little else to do but chuckle over the ebullience of our youngsters, aptly encapsulated in these quips.