Ah.. My favorite topic!! I use my "Driving in India" skills to rub it in to my friends who visit from the US, you know the ones who told me that after a decade of living in the US I would not survive in India for more than a few months. Automatic cars, roads and lanes and disciple, how boring!!!! My 80 miles commute to office and back always put me to sleep!!! Driving a stick, with all the commotions, autos, cycles, etc, doesn't it give you an adrenaline rush?? What lanes? I hate lanes! I love driving wherever I choose to drive. There have been instances when I have turned to the wrong side of the road as soon as we got here and nobody raised an eyebrow! How sweet of my fellow drivers, some of them even followed me just to keep me company. Now that's what I call a supportive jantha!!! I've done that when I was new in the US and have gotten into a terrible mess. The drivers there have no sense of camaraderie with fellow drivers, they are a miserable lot. They drove me crazy with their incessant honking till I straightened my car out. How rude! And the time I got stuck on a road and could not move because of the 1st gear/ 3rd gear confusion, how effectively the drivers meandered and took easy deviations around me to make sure I got all the time in the world to "figure things out" right in the middle of the road. They let me take my own sweet time to finally realize I was actually on the third gear and shift to first before moving forward! Some of the auto wallahs were so co-operative they drove on the other side of the road making sure both the lanes were completely blocked off so nobody would ever figure out who started the mess! That's what I call backing of each other on the road.. Now in the US, I would have got jarring honks, ugly stares and most of all a cop would definitely show up in 10 minutes. How very drab! Like with the blaring light et al somebody is going to prevent them from showing up! In India, pizza guys show up in 20 minutes(or we get the pizza free). To achieve that, they even ride on the footpaths. Now that is what I call commitment to work!!! And when it rains and there are puddles all over the roads and you never know whether you are driving on roads or in a deep open drain, there is the ever friendly "BMTC" bus driver, leading the way, splashing away, never minding the pedestrians on the road, just to lead the way for hapless drivers like myself. Isn't that being friendly? In fact, I love driving so much, I look forward to my 20kms commute to work on days my driver is a no show. Ok, jokes aside, it is definitely challenging. Especially with all the Autos, cycles, pedestrians, buses and everything else that moves all in blended into one single lane called a road. It gets even more challenging when the Water supply or telephone departments decide it is time to dig up the already non-existent roads to do whatever they have to do and then just leave piles and piles of dirt on both sides of the road!! PS - I am laughing re-reading this post. Hope I didn't offend anyone out here. I've had a terrible day and am sure so have the others who have had to drive to work in India today. If this is over the line, please report(Now the Moderator who handles reported posts is kept a top secret thumbsup, so don't worry about me being a mod. I promise not to influence in any way)
Haha Laks.... actually just reading the description gave me an adrenaline rush I can understand when my friends/cousins say what a challenge it is for them to just get to and from work in all the traffic. During my India trip this time, I noticed that the standards of living for some people has risen enough to be able to afford Audis and Beemers that I saw plying on Chennai roads amidst the chaos. Even the driver and owner seemed to be pretty cool about it, but my husband, the ever hyper pillion rider, I am sure was having a spasm every time an auto or a cyclist got close to the car :rotfl:rotfl
Peartree, Here in India, dents and scratches are like "Sone pe Suhaga" on the beemers and the audis. You need dents, otherwise what's the difference between your beemer and the other ones. The more the dents the more your "brag" value! You need to accept your beemer with the dents and bends and all the scratches(and sometimes missing logos - that kids fancy and rip from cars in parking lots). I pity your hubby! I was like that initially. There is something called reconditioning, we need to go through that! I think I'll start a business - adjusting to Indian roads, I'll teach you in a week with my handy tips.
What a narration ,Laks!For a moment you got the Indian roads in front of my eyes.:thumbsup :rotfl:rotflThey will just give you a stare and move on.Good things is if the cop comes near you that time, it will be for help and not for a "ticket".:biglaugh Whenever we are in a hurry to any client place and we are stuck in a signal or in traffic, I used to tell my European friend, "I wish this is India.We could have easily overtaken all these guys and reach the client place in time".Guess what his reply would be "I dare not to drive in India":biglaugh.
Your thread reminded me of an incident. We parked our car & were walking toward a store when we noticed a car that was parked only half way. It was like the driver had just pulled in half way & then decided that was enough!!. No other car could pass that one in the parking lane. DH was so p**sed that he went back to our car & wrote a note & put it on the other car's windshield. The note read "What would you do with a brain if you had one????":bowdown:bowdown LOL.
Nice idea, but isnt the title on the top so and so dot com offensive/indecent and wont a person get offended the moment he/she sees the title line itself before even moving on to read the check boxes? Courtesy goes a long way, yes, agreed, they are at fault, but it can be phrased in a nicer way so that the correct thought sinks in and they dont repeat doing it again :thumbsup
