India is famous for its traffic. Do a search for it on Youtube and you will be assaulted with numerous videos of blatant disregard for road rules.
I don’t need Youtube. I just have to look outside my bedroom window and I have a live feed of this chaos.
Unbelievably, there are actually road rules in place. India has a speed limit of 80km (the absence of speed limit signs means, however, that the only way you will find this out is if you happen to go over the limit in the presence of a cop), and major intersections have traffic police who stand in little brown uniforms and slouch hats to direct traffic. There are also helpful signs all over the city asking drivers to Follow Lane Discipline or advocate Safety is to wear a Helmet, but I don’t think the mother who was breastfeeding her baby on the back of a moving motorbike, whilst her husband cradled their toddler on the petrol tank, could find a helmet small enough to cover the head of her newborn.
Crossing a road is kind of like a game of chess. Very strategic, with huge risk involved. Basically, you pick a moment amidst the chaos of motor bikes, cars, busses, bullock carts and cows and then simply start walking.
The secret is not to run, but to walk at a slow and steady pace...as if you were a cow. Traffic will then go around you, and you will somehow emerge on the other side of the road in one piece. If you feel it necessary, you can hold out your hand in a Star Wars “May the force be with you” type gesture, but at the end of the day, this won’t exactly stop a bus.
I still get the jitters whenever I have to cross the road (and considering we live on one of the biggest arterials in Bangalore, this is a rather frequent occurrence). Like a true Australian, I loiter at the side of the road, hoping desperately for a break in traffic...
Shaun is significantly better at running in front of cars than I am, and if we are out together, I cling to his arm, like the timid housewife I am...but I suppose, when you are Shaun Star, you can easily stop traffic by mere reputation.
Checkmate.
haha. I loved the traffic police directing traffic from the middle of intersections!
Posted by: bing! | 07/28/2010 at 07:08 AM