String theory

Nope, you do not need a physics degree to read this piece; a physics degree is as far from reality as it gets for this unworthy soul.

You just have to have experienced the madness of Dhaka driving. Let's boil it down to the bare essentials - what is Dhaka driving? It is the daily battle to get ahead, literally. It's the quintessential rat race. And we are rats, us drivers. We may be the nicest people when out of our warring chariots, but in them we are dogs who eat dogs. Or rats who eat rats - doesn't have the same ring though.

We spend most of our days in queues, waiting to get ahead. That one car you leave behind is one car less you will have to wait behind at the next intersection. If you leave enough cars behind, you might not have to wait at all at the next intersection. Fond hope, but that is all we have as we curse the bus driver taking up two lanes.

So, string theory. I don't know nearly enough about the physics principle to even begin to draw a comparison - it has to do with some unifying crap - but the driving theory is pretty simple. Imagine you are in a jam of the traffic variety; there are many other vehicles of various sorts jostling for the position you will be in or hope to be in when things, as if by divine decree, start moving again. There will be CNGs and rickshaws and other cars and buses and trucks that will try to cut in from the left or right. But you have to remain steadfast. Move forward, brother (or sister, we heartily welcome your presence on our all-too-masculine roads).

What you have to do is imagine you are tied by a string to the bumper of the car before you. If it moves, you have to move. There is no other way to it. You are bound.

This however does not come without its share of caveats. At the risk of sounding immodest, it requires some skill. You have to be aware of your limits, or the corners of your car. Do not go into a game of chicken - in Dhaka the other guy is likely to be less chicken than you. But it all depends on your ability to move when the car before you moves.

The thing about string theory is that just as you imagine yourself tied by a string, if done correctly the guy trying to take your rightful place will also think that you are so connected and not mess with you. A useful thing to remember before practising the theory is that the extremities of your car should be aligned to the one before you.

If you are jutting out in one direction, it makes it easier for a pretender to interrupt your progress and cut in.
One last thing: if the vehicle trying to take your 'rightful' spot is an ambulance, then forget about string theory. You do not want to be that particular rat.