Saturday, November 18, 2006

Street scene


Indian streets are just insane by western standards. Pedestrians, cows, cycle rickshaws, motorised rickshaws, cars and motorbikes jostle for position with an endless cacophany of horns - sounded not in anger, but because all the wing mirrors have been knocked off the vehicles and that is the only way people know what is coming up from behind. Most trucks have the words “Horn Please” emblazoned on their backsides, and everybody accommodates their wish. Constantly. You kinda learn to filter it out, but then have to get used to a driving style in which conventional manners are completely ignored. Gaps in the traffic are filled on a first come, first served basis, which means that you are constantly being cut up. If it happened in the West, there would be endless cases of road rage, but here it is so commonplace that nobody bats an eyelid. Driving is purely instinctive and I never saw an accident. Having said that, I did see a few cows minus a horn and one with it’s hindleg hanging off. Lovely.