people used to describe to me how indian traffic was like before i came to india. cows sitting in the middle of the road refusing to budge, cars swerving to avoid the chillin cows, cars moving against the flow of traffic, traffic lights being more like a signal to start inching than a signal to stop (the cars only stopped when enough cars from the perpendicular street inched forward enough).. so when i came to india this time, i was looking out for all of these!! :)
i was taking an auto (tut-tut/rickshaw) in chennai. the driver did not really noe how to get to our destination so he took a few wrong turns. he had to stop a few times to consult the other auto drivers for direction. so finally as we were nearing our destination, he found out he had just missed a turn.. so he looked to his right and started taking a u-turn.. i din realize what was going on until 3 seconds later... he was taking a u-turn on a one way street!!! haha that was my first real indian traffic experience!! :)
there werent any cows roaming the streets in chennai so when i saw this cow i was really excited!! it wasnt really like what i expected but it was still pretty fun! :)
i only really saw the chillin cows when i visited surat this weekend.. it's a little city some 5-6 hours drive from mumbai. i visited our other project site since i was in mumbai for a meeting on friday.. there were many cows just roaming the streets! and i saw some of them just sitting in the middle of the road like they owned it, exactly how i pictured it!! haha it was so cool seeing my imagination come to life!! :) hee!
i'm constantly amused by indian traffic. i make sure i take the front seat when we took a cab for work so that i can see what's going on ahead of us. on one of the trips, there was a little motorbike riding in front of us and it was going slower than our cab driver liked. so he started honking honking honking honking non stop! that guy was oblivious to the honking (there was alot of other honking going on as well) so after about 10 honks the motorbike driver realised that the honk was targetted at him, and turned over his right shoulder to see what's going on... he gave us a look, and continued driving at the same pace on the same path... totally bo-hiu!!! which brings me to the next point.. indian drivers honk super alot! i think it's got something to do with them painting "blow OK horn" or "horn OK please" on the truck butts!
hahah i don't really get why they honk all the time, and i mean all the time!! they honk when they are reversing, when there are cars threatening to come in their paths, when there are cars in their paths, when they are about to go into someone else's path, when there are humans, when there are no humans, at the red light when everyone's stopped... it's pretty ridiculous, the honking!! poor chinky and swati, their rooms are right next to the roads, so imagine all the honking they are experiencing in their sleep!
and i'm not sure which came first, the horrible traffic or the lane-less roads. there's no concept of lanes in the city, there can be any number of cars horizontally at any given time, as long as there's space, there's a car/bike/motorbike/auto! and on a motorbike, there can be any number of people on it, as long as everyone can fit. i've seen whole families travelling on one motorbike before... same idea for vans and trucks, people can be standing on the door ledge, hanging on for dear life, while everyone else are packed like sardines in the car! i guess it's pretty safe since the congestion slows down the traffic ALOT, so these vehicles are going really slow!
oh! there's one nice thing i witnessed on indian roads the other day.. a lady fell off her bike and was sitting on the ground when my cab drove past. he slowed down and stopped beside her and i saw a few other cars stopping around her (surrounding her) as well. one driver got out of his car and helped her to the side, and only until she was safe that our cars moved off... i thought that was really sweet and nice! :)
i love indian traffic! super entertaining! but i think i'll die if i had to drive on indian roads.. i will get too impatient and nervous!! and the potholes!! i would be cursing and swearing all the time!! :)
