Well here we are in India. We have been living here 4 weeks now and I believe I should have started this blog sooner. I am quickly becoming used to many of the things that startled me to see the first 2 weeks. The oddities that make visiting a new place so interesting are becoming commonplace to me now. For example, the traffic!
My husband and I lived in New Jersey for a couple of years, and have always joked about drivers from that state lacking in manners and/or ability (no real offense meant to New Jersey drivers; we all know every state has its fair share of crazies on the road!). I mention New Jersey drivers to illustrate the point that they seem tame in comparison to drivers in Bangalore. The streets here are narrow, made for 1 car usually. The larger roads, built recently, are made for 4 lanes of traffic, 2 lanes each direction. Bangalore drivers somehow manage to squeeze 3 car widths into what should be 2. They maneuver and honk CONSTANTLY. They veer around pedestrians, scooters, motorcycles, autorickshaws, buses, trucks, and cows and slow down for the ever-present speed bumps that were randomly thrown in to control speed. They turn when they have no business turning; with buses and trucks bearing down on them (and you, as their passenger!). Yet somehow they make it work. Rarely do I see an accident, or hear of road rage. Sharing space is simply a part of being. There is absolutely NO sense of entitlement when it comes to space on the roadways. They just share it.
Other sights on the roads that made me stare at first, but now seem commonplace, are families in auto rickshaws, or on scooters or motorcycles. Apparently I wasted $150 on a car seat because people here get along just fine without them! It is quite common to see families with young children riding in an open sided auto rickshaw. Mom may or may or may not be holding onto their children while they stand 2 inches from the open edge of the vehicle. Also often seen are families of 3 and 4 riding a scooter or motorcycle. Dad drives, Mom rides behind holding baby, and the older child rides between Mom and dad. I think it was the absolute trust on the women's faces that got to me the most when I would see that. They had no doubt about getting to their destination safely, even as their husband maneuvered the motorcycle between 2 large trucks. Maybe I misinterpreted the look. Perhaps it was resignation. After all, if you can afford motorized transport instead of walking, you take it. Being a pedestrian in Bangalore is not something I want to be very often.
As I have already described in some detail, traffic in the city in India is overwhelming. Imagine being a pedestrian when there are so many vehicles on the road there isn't an inch to spare! Now, there are sidewalks in India. But infrastructure maintenance here is not the same as in the U.S. If something under the sidewalk needs to be worked on, they may very well tear up a 20 foot span of walkway...and never replace it. So pedestrians very often need to venture into the road...amid the horrendous traffic. Once again, though, it just works. Like the cows, vehicles just go around them. The most difficult thing to watch in heavy traffic is pedestrians trying to cross the street, especially if they are mothers with young children. But vehicles do slow down to let them cross, just as vehicles slow down to let other vehicles cross. There are few traffic lights here, so traffic, motorized or not, makes and follows some unwritten code of conduct which seems mainly to consist of the basic tenet "take it when you can get it, but be careful of others in the process". Not a bad rule.
My husband and I lived in New Jersey for a couple of years, and have always joked about drivers from that state lacking in manners and/or ability (no real offense meant to New Jersey drivers; we all know every state has its fair share of crazies on the road!). I mention New Jersey drivers to illustrate the point that they seem tame in comparison to drivers in Bangalore. The streets here are narrow, made for 1 car usually. The larger roads, built recently, are made for 4 lanes of traffic, 2 lanes each direction. Bangalore drivers somehow manage to squeeze 3 car widths into what should be 2. They maneuver and honk CONSTANTLY. They veer around pedestrians, scooters, motorcycles, autorickshaws, buses, trucks, and cows and slow down for the ever-present speed bumps that were randomly thrown in to control speed. They turn when they have no business turning; with buses and trucks bearing down on them (and you, as their passenger!). Yet somehow they make it work. Rarely do I see an accident, or hear of road rage. Sharing space is simply a part of being. There is absolutely NO sense of entitlement when it comes to space on the roadways. They just share it.
Other sights on the roads that made me stare at first, but now seem commonplace, are families in auto rickshaws, or on scooters or motorcycles. Apparently I wasted $150 on a car seat because people here get along just fine without them! It is quite common to see families with young children riding in an open sided auto rickshaw. Mom may or may or may not be holding onto their children while they stand 2 inches from the open edge of the vehicle. Also often seen are families of 3 and 4 riding a scooter or motorcycle. Dad drives, Mom rides behind holding baby, and the older child rides between Mom and dad. I think it was the absolute trust on the women's faces that got to me the most when I would see that. They had no doubt about getting to their destination safely, even as their husband maneuvered the motorcycle between 2 large trucks. Maybe I misinterpreted the look. Perhaps it was resignation. After all, if you can afford motorized transport instead of walking, you take it. Being a pedestrian in Bangalore is not something I want to be very often.
As I have already described in some detail, traffic in the city in India is overwhelming. Imagine being a pedestrian when there are so many vehicles on the road there isn't an inch to spare! Now, there are sidewalks in India. But infrastructure maintenance here is not the same as in the U.S. If something under the sidewalk needs to be worked on, they may very well tear up a 20 foot span of walkway...and never replace it. So pedestrians very often need to venture into the road...amid the horrendous traffic. Once again, though, it just works. Like the cows, vehicles just go around them. The most difficult thing to watch in heavy traffic is pedestrians trying to cross the street, especially if they are mothers with young children. But vehicles do slow down to let them cross, just as vehicles slow down to let other vehicles cross. There are few traffic lights here, so traffic, motorized or not, makes and follows some unwritten code of conduct which seems mainly to consist of the basic tenet "take it when you can get it, but be careful of others in the process". Not a bad rule.
