- You HONK. Honking is necessary and expected. If you hit a pedestrian or a bicycle or motorbike or a Truck - you are off the hook if you had honked before telling him that you are passing him.
- Driving is about Block Tackle - You do not want others to get ahead of you or you do not want incoming traffic to use the road. You drive to block everybody else but yourself.
- While turning, you position, enter and then give signal. You ensure that you are not letting anybody move so that you get to turn.
- You drive based on your gut instinct. You are interested in moving forward - from left or from right or by being in middle of the road.
- You do not use mirrors. If you use mirrors, they will be broken by Motor-bike at signals. Normally Motorbikes come within few cm (single digits) of your car at all times
- You do not "Look over shoulders". If you try, you will hit a bike or a person in front of you. You assume that all others will take care of themselves and you drive whatever you think is appropriate. You drive the way you see/think is fit to the situation.
- You drive closer - I mean closer - means within 2-3 feets of car in front of you and within 1 feet of another vehicle on your left or right. You do not worry about them, you assume that they will safe and drive without worrying about any of the traffic.
- Signals are 'Overloaded operators" like in C++ classes - Left turn signal means the car in front of you is turning left, but it also means you can overtake the car safely and car driver is asking you to overtake.
- When in doubt, drive in middle of the road, specifically in way that your car is exactly in middle of the diving line between lanes. You can speed and nobody disturbs you because you are pushing everybody in front of you.
- Drive Fast whenever you get chance, you can go from 0 miles (normal state) to 35 (Very fast in Pune) in 3 seconds, for few yards, then you are back to usual 2-3 miles an hour.
- You drive on 1st gear, 2nd and may be, very rare - 3rd or 4th gear. You are lucky if you get to drive in 3rd gear for more than 15 minutes or you are driving outside pune.
I will keep you posted my adventures ......
8 comments:
You know what, your post reads like you are mocking. Typical for people who have returned from abroad and trying to show off by saying this is bad and that is bad. It’s not like that in the US or the UK.
Frankly, Pune streets are not meant for 4 wheelers, a 2 wheeler is what should be used.
Dear Anonymous,
You are right that most of my posts have mocking tone. It is reality.
The blog is mainly showing how a original Indian - somebody who could eat road-side, drink from a road-side tap-water and drive 2 wheeler through Tulasi-Baag (if you know the place), becomes an 'American' - somebody who expects order in everything, expects that people will follow rules, expects that roads should be clean and all that.
India is India, us is US but I am what I am. I can not stop writing what I am going through after 10 years of orderly life.
Hope you appreciate!
I am not denying the state of the city, far from that, I kind of agree with you on almost all the points.
What I mean is one can curse without being mocking. There is a difference between ‘Oh God, just look at the roads’
And ‘The roads are so bad’.
Anyways, this is your blog. And as you said this is you.
Just wanted to put in my 2 cents.
And I do appreciate else I wouldn’t have bothered to comment :)
It's so nice for me to have found this blog of yours, it's so interesting. I sure hope and wish that you take courage enough to pay me a visit in my PALAVROSSAVRVS REX!, and plus get some surprise. My blog is also so cool!
Feel free off course to comment as you wish and remember: don't take it wrong, don't think that this visitation I make is a matter of more audiences for my own blogg. No. It's a matter of making universal, realy universal, all this question of bloggs, all the essential causes that bring us all together.
I think it's to UNITE MANKIND that we became bloggers! Don't see language as an obstacle. That's not the point. Pictures talk also. Open your heart and come along!!!!!
Nice to visit your blog Ankush.
I can probably write a book on my visit to India last month. I hadn't been back home (cannot call India home anymore) for over 7 years, so mentally I was ready for surprises.
I used to often hear from friends and relatives in the US that India (Mumbai/ Poona) have changed, but I never asked whether changed for good or bad.
Realization struck when I got out of the Mumbai airport. It was a completely different world out there. Could not believe that I once lived in there. Not because things had changed, but mainly because over the 7 years in the US, I got used to quiter traffic, fresh air, no stench, and of course not used to seeing so many people.
When the driver pulled the Qualis out of the airport, it was a WOW! The concept of "right of way" had a new definition - one who honks has the right of way, however, if two vehicles honk, the one with the loudest honk has the right of way. I had a car and a bike in India, but did not dare an attempt to drive or ride. I guess before I left for the US, I used to drive in a similar fashion. These must be those unwritten traffic rules.
Travel by autoriksha was a different experience, especially with my wife. It would have been good if she would have either shut her eyes or her mouth. Someone would pop right in front of the auto and she would scream :) Good that the auto drivers have healthy heart and of course larger lungs.
It was a relief when we reached Goa and Karwar (ancesterial place). I wish those places remain untouched, atleast I'll have some place to go on my next visit.
Ankush,
Spot on! I drove a car twice in full Pune traffic (Karve Road and Paud Road) last month and never in my life so far did I have to use my senses and brain for so much of the time than that time. I did manage to go in the 4th gear though (when the car was moving I mean!) But I agree with all of the points...
--Amit
Forget driving, even taking a walk, especially during the rains is one hell of a job. And you get to display and test your athletic skills by the way you avoid the splashes that the vehicle drivers make by vroomin through the potholes. You'd wish that you had six eyes.
Even though as kids, we're taught about all the traffic rules, the driving license authority never cares to test the person's knowledge before issuing them. If you have few thousand bucks, and an agent, he'll get your license at your doorstep irrespective of the matter whether you even actually know how to drive or not.
Other than the one mentioned above, there are a tons of reasons for all that happens on the road out there.
Agree with all points. I was driving bikes , cars in Pune for 5 years. Then I drove in US for 6 months (typical Indian bachelor life!!!). When I went to India for a month's vacation, I didn't dare to drive for first 10 days, neither car not bike.
After driving in US for 1-2 years, I still wonder about one big difference between Indian traffic and US traffic. In India, people 'adjust' as per traffic. Sometimes, it feels good to have people adjusting and accepting your mistakes like being in wrong lane or driving slowly as you're new. Many times, this can result in fatal accidents. Still not sure whether these adjustments are good or bad. Will still be exploring them.
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