Traffic

Namaste!

Traffic is chaotic in New Delhi and can be hair-raising!

You have to share the road with surprising variety of living things:

pedestrians
bulls
geese
goats
dogs
cows
elephants ( two in New Delhi)

You also see:
cycles (overloaded so much you won't believe what you look at)
rick shaws (tuk-tuk)(three wheeled scooters)
children and adults selling all kind of things
motorbikes( with two or three persons)

Buses and trucks (most brightly decorated and in poor state of repair) are kings of the roads, arrogant and dangerous.

You are driving on the left side but all of a sudden someone is coming on the wrong side and nobody seems to bother!!

If you get some problem with your vehicle you fix it where you are. So far I haven't seen any tow trucks.

People are driving towards red in intersections and often putting out a hand from the window!!!! Do they think that that will help in case of an accident??


On the back of the cars you often find a sign telling:
HORN PLEASE!
The traffic is regulated by horn. Drivers are expected to horn when they are passing, when they are turning, when they are backing up and things being horned at are expected to move.

There are lot's of motorbikes and you can see the whole family on the bike. The driver have a helmet but it doesn't seem to be as useful for the women and children behind the driver on the bike.

Lights flashed at you mean: "Get out of the way". In England it meant "Do come out from that road". I love driving but considering all these thing and that as a women the law in India consider them the faulty part, unless they have a strong witness support, I will be happy sitting in the back seat and look at India.

My driver Jaipal is fluent in Hindu and that is useful in case of an accident. As a foreigner you have little chance of victory in altercations regarding traffic.

After three weeks in the traffic I am getting us to it.

The most difficult thing about being in the traffic it's the children.In intersections they are running around and selling flowers or balloons. They often live with their families nearby the intersections in a shelter made of boxes or tarpaulins. It's difficult to see and understand how on earth you can live like that?!
Again you get use to it. But I will always feel sorry for them. As a hindu you think they have done something in previous life that's why they ended up as beggars. We have decided in our family not to give them anything. These children should be in school. By giving them money they will never go to school.Parents send their children to beg because they get more money than adults. From the 1 of April 2010 all children in India is having the right to attend school.

Our family will find other ways of helping some children and families in India.

There are 1.2 billion people living in India ( they are counting everybody in India now!)and we can't save them all but by living in India we can make a difference for a few of them.

I have bougth a new camera and soon there will be some pictures here!