"Surviving On Indian Roads"

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TrustFire
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"Surviving On Indian Roads"

Sat Jul 16, 2011 10:09 am

For the benefit of every Tom, Dick and Harry visiting India and daring to drive on Indian roads, I'm offering a few hints for survival. They're applicable to every place in India except Bihar, where life outside a vehicle is only marginally safer.

Indian-road-rules broadly operate within the domain of karma where you do your best, and leave your fate to your life insurance company. The hints are as follows:

Must one drive on the 'left' or 'right' of the road?

The answer is 'both.' Basically, you start on the 'left' of the road, unless it's occupied. In that case, go to the 'right,' unless that's also occupied. Then proceed by occupying the next available gap, as in chess. Just trust your instincts, ascertain the direction, and proceed. Adherence to road rules leads to much misery and occasional fatality. Most drivers don't drive, but just aim their vehicles in the intended direction. Don't you get discouraged or underestimate yourself except for a belief in re-incarnation, the other drivers are in no better position.

Don't stop at pedestrian crossings just because some fool wants to cross the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumped in the back. Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only when traffic is moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because some minister is in town. Still some idiot may try to wade across, but then let's not talk ill of the dead.

Blowing your horn is not a sign of protest as in some other countries. We honk to express joy, resentment, frustration, romance and bare lust (two brisk blasts) or just to mobilize a dozing cow in the middle of the bazaar (market.)

Keep informative books in the glove compartment. You may read them during traffic jams, while awaiting the chief minister's motorcade, or while waiting for the rainwater to recede when over-ground traffic meets underground drainage.

Occasionally you might see what looks like an UFO with blinking colored lights and weird sounds emanating from within. This is an illuminated bus, full of happy pilgrims singing bhajans (devotional songs.) These pilgrims travel at breakneck (neck-break) speed, seeking contact with the Almighty, often meeting with success.

Auto-Rickshaws (Baby Taxi):
An innovative design resulting from a collision between a rickshaw and an automobile, this three-wheeled vehicle works on an external combustion engine that runs on an infernal mixture of kerosene, oil and creosote. This triangular vehicle carries iron rods, gas cylinders or passengers thrice its weight and dimension, at an unspecified fare. After careful geometric calculations, children are folded and packed into these auto-rickshaws until some children in the periphery are not in contact with the vehicle at all. Then their school bags are pushed into the microscopic gaps all round so those minor collisions with other vehicles on the road cause no permanent damage. Of course, the peripheral children are charged half the fare and also learn Newton's laws of motion en route to school. Auto-rickshaw drivers follow the road rules depicted in the film 'Ben Hur,' and are licensed to irritate.

Mopeds:
The moped looks like an oil tin on wheels and makes noises like an electric shaver. It runs 30 miles on a teaspoon of petrol (gas) and travels at break-bottom (your bottom) speed. As the sides of the road are too rough for a ride, the moped drivers tend to drive in the middle of the road; they would rather drive under heavier vehicles instead of around them and are often 'mopped' off the tarmac.

Leaning Towers of Passes:
Most bus passengers are given free passes and during rush hours, there is absolute mayhem. There are passengers hanging off other passengers, who in turn hang off the railings and the overloaded bus leans dangerously, defying laws of gravity (pun unintended) but obeying laws of surface tension. As drivers get paid for overload (so many Rupees per kg of passenger,) no questions are ever asked. Steer clear of these buses by a width of three passengers.

One-way Street:
These boards are put up by traffic cops to add jest in their otherwise drab lives. Don't stick to the literal meaning by proceeding in just one direction. In metaphysical terms, it means that you cannot proceed in two directions at once. So drive, as you like, in reverse throughout, if you are the fussy type. Least I sound hypercritical; I must add a positive point also. Rash and fast driving in residential areas has been prevented by providing a speed breaker; in fact - two for each house.

This mound incidentally, covers the water and drainage pipes for that residence and is left un-tarred for the sake of easy identification by the corporation authorities, should they want to recover the pipe for year-end accounting.

Night driving on Indian roads can be an exhilarating experience (for those with the mental makeup of Genghis Khan.) In a way, it is like playing Russian roulette, because you do not know who amongst the drivers is loaded. What looks like premature dawn on the horizon turns out to be a truck attempting a speed record. On encountering it, just pull partly into the field adjoining the road until the phenomenon passes. Our roads do not have shoulders, but occasional boulders. Do not blink your lights expecting reciprocation. The only dim thing in the truck is the driver, and with the peg of illicit arrack (alcohol) he has had at the last stop, his total cerebral functions add up to little more than a naught. Truck drivers are the James Bonds of India, and are licensed to kill. Often you may encounter a single powerful beam of light about three feet above the ground. This is not a super motorbike, but a truck approaching you with a single light on, usually the left one. It could be the right one, but never get too close to investigate. You may prove your point posthumously. Of course, all this occurs at night, on the trunk roads. During the daytime, trucks are more visible, except that the drivers will never indicate any signal (and you must watch for the absent signals; they are the greater threat.) Only, you will often observe that the cleaner who sits next to the driver, will project his hand and wave hysterically.

This is definitely not to be construed as an intention to turn left. The waving is just a statement of physical relief on a hot day. If, after all this, you still want to drive in India, have your lessons between 8 pm and 11 am - when the cops have gone home and the citizen is free to enjoy the 'freedom of speed' enshrined in our constitution.
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stan_qaz
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Re: "Surviving On Indian Roads"

Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:00 pm

I had to share this with a few friends, with minor edits (Mekong for Arrack for instance) it also fits Thailand.

Can you rent a taxi in India to drive alongside a canal and tow you on water skis?
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Pierre
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Re: "Surviving On Indian Roads"

Sun Jul 17, 2011 7:34 pm

Thailand - don't they have those boats with V8 outboard motors attached. One of those would be better than a taxi. :devil Think I saw it in a 007 movie. :ninja
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Re: "Surviving On Indian Roads"

Tue Jul 19, 2011 6:52 am

Nice to see at least a couple of replies on the Chit Chat forum. :thumbsup
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