India – Traffic

Traffic in India warrants a posting all its own. A wise man once said, "If you believe in a Higher Power, and if you have a good relationship with that Higher Power, and if you believe that once you die, you'll experience Nirvana, then go ahead and drive the streets of India." Only the most audacious, intentional people with quintessential depth perception, nerves of steel and a willingness to submit to God's Will seem to be driving the streets of India.  Only brand new cars have no dents – and I suspect it's only a matter of time.

It is the norm to have only a few centimeters between the skins of neighborly cars, trucks, taxis, tuk-tuks (3-wheeled auto-rickshaws), regular rickshaws, motorcycles, bicycles, tractor-pulled carts, oxen/horse/bicycle/hand carts, elephants, horses, cows, goats, dogs … and masses of pedestrians – a few centimeters on either side of your own vehicle. An easy exhale effortlessly reaches your immediate neighboring vehicles, a cough could extend itself 2 vehicles over. Yep, I said elephants. I saw three – one in a round-about in a major downtown Mumbai street, one in the middle of downtown Agra, and one of the road to the Taj Mahal.

Basically it's a swarm of humanity/carts/machines in a free-for-all, everyone jockeying for the pole-position. There are rules – rules which no one either knows or obeys. Honking is the sonar system by which all vehicles communicate to everyone else – there is the polite "Here I come up on your side" honk; the insistent "Move Over, Stupid!" honk, and the ever popular "You Dumb S***, where did you get your driving license!" honk; and the ever fashionable honk – "It's high time to honk again – just to check my honker." Red lights,  white stripes on the road, one-way streets – they mean little. Here, if my side of the street is too crowded or too slow, nothing prevents me from driving the wrong way down a less crowded one-way street.

At first Bill and I were holding our breath, white-knuckling the arm-rest (no seat belts) – fearing imminent death or dismemberment at the very least. After more than 2 weeks of experiencing Indian driving, we have come to appreciate the ability of the people here to access the almost inaccessible spaces.  Truly, it's like a zen walk in Opening the Heart, effortlessly going with the flow – except it's a zen drive.

PS  We never saw any accidents of any kind – a testament to Indian driving.

PPS  You can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.