We have experienced the many modes of commuting in India. There is no way we would venture out on the roads here to drive on our own – car, scooter or even bicycle. One of the things we have learned from our driver, is that right of way goes to cows, and bigger cars; not people. In fact, the fine for hitting a cow is 15,000 rupees, and the fine for hitting an actual person is 2,500. And if you hit a bigger vehicle... your own life could be taken. It’s strange that a human life is valued so much less than the sacred cow. Having this information is important, though, as you’d want to be very careful crossing the streets!
Over the past weeks of travel, we’ve seen trucks carrying massive amounts of cargo, along with a group of men in the bin on the top of the cab labeled “Goods Carrier.” We’ve seen auto-rickshaws transporting loads of sugar cane 10 times the size of the rickshaw. We’ve seen large road-train type trucks, flipped over on their side, teetering off the side of a road embankment. The automobiles share the road with other ‘goods carriers’ such as packs of camels loaded up with cargo; cows towing men and cargo on wood wheeled platforms; and of course, women carrying loads of cement and other goods on their heads- all by foot.
Road etiquette includes honking your horn excessively, and flashing your ‘dipper’ (lights) uncontrollably at night. People drive on both sides of the roads, and when there’s a traffic jam on their side of the road, the road magically expands to a big one-lane highway, forcing the other direction traffic out of the way. The infrastructure has a long way to go to support the rapidly expanding economy here. We are in Bangalore today, and it takes hours to go just 10 kilometers I some areas. The city will need to make some drastic changes quickly, or risk losing corporate jobs to other cities that learn from the mistakes made in Bangalore and do a better job planning.