That's life

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Driving...

Driving in India has many fascinations. There is a variety of things you encounter and of course things vary from city to city. By nature I am a slow, rule-following, indicator-while-lane-changing, signal-stopping driver. That has its own challenges, especially in Pune. Pune driving is one intruiging experience. Here are some things, that you should not get startled when in Pune
- Finding a truck, taxi, auto coming from the wrong side of the road
- Finding the driver absolutely unmoved when you give a stare for doing that
- Drivers unfamiliar with the concept of dividers (especially when you pass through villages converted to parts of the town)
- Six bikes around you at the signal
- Bike drivers talking on the cell phone while driving with one hand
- Four people on a bike
- Women drivers and their amazing feats (I need a separate volume for that) like driving in the middle of the road, unware of traffic, taking a right turn from the left most lane on the road
- overtaking can happen from any side of the car - left, right, over, under, front or back (don't imagine - just experience it)
- signals are not meant for traffic, especially bikes

I usually take the bus to work. Of late have started driving. It has brought back memories of language (new phrase). I am back to speaking Sanskrit slokas and symbols. This is like my friend Patel in college used to say..."Aha, su savaar, savaar maan sanskrit na slok bolyo".

Have a good one!

5 Comments:

Blogger Pallav said...

Have a great driving...

August 16, 2009 at 8:16 AM  
Blogger Hari said...

Enjoy driving! Though having driven in Bangalore, Pune and Hyd, I can say this: Drivers in Bangalore are often apologetic when caught on the wrong side of the road; errant folks in Pune can be stared down; but Hyd is a class apart altogether!

August 16, 2009 at 9:29 AM  
Blogger Freddi Gyara said...

Nice one.

After being a non-driver for years, its an amazing feeling of freedom to be able to drive!

August 16, 2009 at 10:11 AM  
Blogger Alok Arora said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

August 17, 2009 at 7:25 PM  
Blogger Alok Arora said...

Only In India
When crossing an intersection and challenged by 2 wheeler coming from a perpendicular road, one looks at the driver, his eyes, facial expression, body language and in a split a decision is made. Impulsively one knows if crossing the intersection is safe or not. (Resembles Simon’ learnt intuitive decision making process - Gyan from my Managing Innovations class in Canada)

Talk about decision making in high risk situation and we Indian are above and beyond. Ain’t we good? :)

Driving abroad is painfully monotonous especially when T is backseat driving from the front seat.

August 17, 2009 at 7:25 PM  

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