7. BRAVING THE STREETS
Life out on the streets is TOTAL CHAOS! It's not for the faint-hearted, but it's extremely exciting. It gives me an adrenalin rush to go out into any street in any city in India, brave the traffic, come home in one piece and be able to reflect on the adventure and write about it.
Every imaginable contraption that has wheels and 4 legs share the same road space - cow cart, donkey cart, home made cart....stray dogs, cows, mules. For such a huge country, I've only seen a handful of cats. Despite the filth everywhere, I've not seen rats...in one home, there was a little black mouse, must be the family pet!
In one neighbourhood, boars roamed the roads, not those white or pink piggies but BOARS with tusks. They scavenge among the ditches and rubbish heaps and are tame. Mongrels however don't seem to like them.
The 3 wheeler autos are cheap, so are the rikshas which are bicycles with a back seat for at least 2 which takes one over short distances. Travel at your own risk as there's no insurance cover. The autos can go like the wind if not asked to slow down. Being 3 wheelers, they are not terribly stable, so hold on for dear life when they take corners, run over very bumpy roads and potholes.
Autos and rikshas cut through one way streets in the wrong direction, they take short cuts all the time through back alleys which are truly bumpy, filthy and smelly.
Autos run on some gas which is flammable. If one is unfortunate enough to be in a serious collision, one goes up in a fireball and become barbequed meat.
Strangely enough, traffic keeps moving despite the chaotic mess. In some countries with more traffic lights than Indian cities, traffic very often comes to a standstill. I've yet to see serious accidents involving deaths, I've witnessed some motorbikes turning over spilling its occupants on to the roads but no one died nor was injured.
I've witnessed occupants falling off their riksha in near collision, landing one on top of the other, but they got up, dusted their saris and scrambled back on their riksha and life goes on. Should there be a collision, the guilty party merely takes a quick look and noting that you're still alive, hops back into his car and drives away. Cinta matkaro - no problem!
Motorists have no respect for road signs, traffic policemen and pedestrians. You'll need nerves of steel with total surrender to the Law of Karma and your God, to cross the streets. They respect only cows for I've yet to see a dead or injured cow.
Every imaginable contraption that has wheels and 4 legs share the same road space - cow cart, donkey cart, home made cart....stray dogs, cows, mules. For such a huge country, I've only seen a handful of cats. Despite the filth everywhere, I've not seen rats...in one home, there was a little black mouse, must be the family pet!
In one neighbourhood, boars roamed the roads, not those white or pink piggies but BOARS with tusks. They scavenge among the ditches and rubbish heaps and are tame. Mongrels however don't seem to like them.
The 3 wheeler autos are cheap, so are the rikshas which are bicycles with a back seat for at least 2 which takes one over short distances. Travel at your own risk as there's no insurance cover. The autos can go like the wind if not asked to slow down. Being 3 wheelers, they are not terribly stable, so hold on for dear life when they take corners, run over very bumpy roads and potholes.
Autos and rikshas cut through one way streets in the wrong direction, they take short cuts all the time through back alleys which are truly bumpy, filthy and smelly.
Autos run on some gas which is flammable. If one is unfortunate enough to be in a serious collision, one goes up in a fireball and become barbequed meat.
Strangely enough, traffic keeps moving despite the chaotic mess. In some countries with more traffic lights than Indian cities, traffic very often comes to a standstill. I've yet to see serious accidents involving deaths, I've witnessed some motorbikes turning over spilling its occupants on to the roads but no one died nor was injured.
I've witnessed occupants falling off their riksha in near collision, landing one on top of the other, but they got up, dusted their saris and scrambled back on their riksha and life goes on. Should there be a collision, the guilty party merely takes a quick look and noting that you're still alive, hops back into his car and drives away. Cinta matkaro - no problem!
Motorists have no respect for road signs, traffic policemen and pedestrians. You'll need nerves of steel with total surrender to the Law of Karma and your God, to cross the streets. They respect only cows for I've yet to see a dead or injured cow.
posted by shirley @ 5:43 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home