When arriving into Delhi we were picked up by a pre-arranged taxi, an air-conditioned bubble, a cocoon, or what Balram, Aravind Ariga's main character in "The White Tiger", calls the wealthy man's egg. Through the egg's darkened windows our first sights of India were experienced. As the driver navigated the noisy, monsoon saturated, mayhem of wallahs, rickshaws, beggars, buses, lorries and other sealed and air-conditioned eggs he spotted the familiar wide-eyed stare in his rear view mirror; the newly arrived foreigner. With a big smile he proclaimed that:
"In India, you need three things for good driving. Good horn, good brake, good luck".
Two weeks into the trip when braving the 2 day Leh-Manali road, infamous for the high-altitude passes and hairpin bends making it the road of choice for "Ice Road Truckers-India", our speedy bus driver excersised all three of these basic Indian road rules outlined by our Delhi driver. The horn was certainly in excellent condition, the breaks were squeeky but seemed good enough, whilst his choice of deity was looking after our lucky selves. In case the gods weren't paying attention, the local government had sensibly put up regular reminders along the way cautioning any erratic drivers with comical messages. These are a colourful contrast to the direct and dreary digitalised signs of the British Islands and favourites included:
"Alert today, alive tomorrow"
"This is not a race or rally, it is a beautiful Valley"
"Speed thrills, but kills"
"Mountains are a pleasure, if you drive with leisure"
"Normal speed, meets every need"
"Be gentle on my curves"
And the winner, which ought to be adopted in our kilt-clad homeland:
"Drinking whiskey, driving risky"
As with most things in life, once an accepted system has been understood, it seems like the most natural thing; applying Western skills of driving in India is likely to be as successful as speaking Swedish to Indians. Our beloved guide book, for example, simply states;
"DRIVING - don't do it"
Although we have feared for our lives on several occasions when in motorised transport the system of driving has begun to transpire (it was put to a test in Goa, read Ruth's account of this and judge our success for yourself). Luck is being looked after by divine intervention and brakes are a mere technical problem of service and maintainence. The real trick to driving in India is to decipher its language; the pattern of honking, horning and flashing, and how this links to taking a turn against the traffic. From observation it is, in theory, straightforward:
1 short horn - I want to overtake/I'm turning
2 shorts horns - I am overtaking (the overtaken car usually responds with 2 horns and/or a flash)
1 long horn - get out of my way, I already honked once
1 extended really long horn - I'm getting frustrated here, get the HECK out of my way
Car flashing - making any oncoming traffic aware that I'm around (at night)
Several shorter horns - I can't see what's around the next bend, so letting you know (if you're there), that I'm coming
1 long + 3 short horns - hello to roadside friends
Lorries/buses flashing each other - stop in the middle of the road for a chat
Symphony of all of the above - time to practice your Hindi swearwords, you're stuck in a jam
Once you speak the same language you simply follow another of Balram's observations; you are supposed to drive on the left in India, but no one thinks of this rule as an absolute!
