It’s hard not to think you’re going to die
when you hit the road in India. Aside from the fact that, from an American
perspective, they drive on the wrong side of the road, no logic is apparent on
Indian streets and highways. I asked our guide Devender about this and he
admitted Indians drive erratically. “Driving isn’t tested in India because
there are far too many people,” he explained. “An instructor would have to test
four to five hundred people a day and that just isn’t possible, so we all learn
on our own.”
This becomes interesting when the roads
are choked with cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, tuk tuks (motorized rickshaws
that swarm like locusts) camel-pulled carts, sacred cows, goats and the
occasional elephant, not to mention people walking in the streets.
The sound of traffic is deafening; a
cacophony of blaring distraction. Horns are used to let others know your
location. A driver on a moped with three other family members (no helmets)
doesn’t jump out of his skin if a bus creeps up from behind and lays on the horn.
The driver simply moves into oncoming traffic to let the bus pass. Many times
it appeared that our bus driver was playing chicken with vehicles barreling
toward us at high speed.
Also, there are a lot of quarries in
India, and while driving through them you do not want to be seated in the back
of the bus. Riding a camel is a lot less painful. I never saw a traffic cop in
India, yet I never saw an accident, no collisions of any kind.
This seemed to be the order of things
concerning animals in traffic:
#1 Drive around cows and do not
honk at them; they are sacred. Indians firmly believe in
reincarnation. The cow you’re
disturbing might have been related to you in a previous life.
#2 Nudge goats and lambs out of the
way with the bumper of your vehicle.
#3 Dogs are everywhere but they’re
too smart and nimble to get hit by moving traffic.
#4 Cats hate India and are not to
be found. Monkeys might have eaten them all.
For the rest of this post, travel to the new Chubby Chatterbox (here) and sign up for my India Adventure Give-a-way.
Love the post ...love the pic because the pic you posted is Pakistani road, rush hour time.:)
ReplyDeleteNo one die of such traffic. Lol.
DeleteI'll never complain about my commute again. In a lot of ways, your descriptions remind me of what it's like to drive in Mexico, sans monkeys.
ReplyDeleteMonkeys eat cats? You're joking right? I've never heard of that. I'd think that it would be other predatory animals (like dogs) or even humans who are eating the cats.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't deal with that. I'd need a handful of Valium.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
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ReplyDeleteYou hear stories of Indian traffic all the time. I'd never thought of the driver testing before. We have no idea of a dense population. I'm one who doesn't like malls because there are too many people. Your descriptions of India are fantastic.
ReplyDeleteA few years back, the producers of History's Ice Road Truckers hit upon the bright idea to send at least some of the stars from the show to other parts of the world. Evidently, driving on an ice road was not required. For one of the first places they went was hauling construction equipment from Delhi up to some construction projects in the mountains of northern India (I think). I could only watch a couple of episodes because of how ridiculous it was to me that there is enough money in this world to pay someone to drive anything there--let alone a truck! Natives notwithstanding, of course.
ReplyDeleteWow. What an adventure. Fascinating!
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine that driving test, if it existed? There'd be way too many animals mentioned! Cool trip! I had a similar experience driving in Ecuador.
ReplyDelete"a cacophony of blaring distraction" Nice job squeezing Cacophony into a sentence.
ReplyDeleteI would be horrified; in fact I am just by looking at the picture. Great job of describing the place. Now I don't have to go there--I wouldn't.
ReplyDeleteI was amazed at a tale of a friend who had purchased a new car in India. The first thing he did to prepare the auto for driving in India was to remove the side mirrors. Strange how the chaos and disorder is much safer than our organized roads.
ReplyDeleteNow I have this picture of cat-eating monkeys... it's not pretty. But it would make a great short story!
ReplyDeleteThe Indian traffic reminds me of the downtown streets in my beloved Dominican Republic. I swear traffic is something to be studied and too complex for mere mortals who pretend that they can survive it by just following the signs (when they are there). You won't have a hard time seeing a man, an woman, two children and a few bags travelling on a tiny motorcycle. And, of course, there is the sight of people hanging from buses' open doors...
Ah, how I miss home and its exotic (nearly deadly) attractions ;-)