Streets, traffic and everything around

It is worth dedicating the traffic in India an own chapter. Everything you know about traffic in Germany, forget it when you should come to India one day. There is so much to tell about Indian traffic that I don’t know to start with. Well, first of all, due to the fact that India was ruled by the Britain decades ago they use the left trace and the steering wheels are all on the right side. To get a driving licence either for two or four wheelers or both of it you have to pass an exam of course. Taking driving lessons in advance is not required. Those who want to learn driving ask their relatives or friends to show them. As for the two wheelers, to get the driving licence you have to drive on a wide road and on a narrow road very slowly in order to prove that you are capable of holding the balance. Well, but apart from that there are a lot of differences between German and Indian traffic behaviour and appearance. On the roads you find more or less the same vehicles like in Germany, including cars, buses, lorries, some bicycles and lots, lots of rikshaws and bikes. Bangalore is supposed to be the town with the most bikes in the world. They cause a lot of pollution and leave a lot of stinking cloud behind them as well as the rikshaws by the way. And what about traffic rules? Are there any? There are not many but there is at least one very important one – honk whenever you want. Of course the meanings are different depending on the situation. Basically, there is always a reason and if not, congratulations then you have invented a new one. The most common use of honking is for overtaking what will mean you announce when you want to overtake. The other reason for honking is when you are standing in a traffic jam. Due to the fact that the Indians overtake all the time and there are traffic jams almost the whole day, you can imagine how loud it is in the streets. On big crossings you will find traffic lights or traffic police officers. If there is nothing of the sort you just enter the crossing. Of course that will cause a little traffic jam and will induce the others to start honking but it works. I have never seen an accident caused because of that. The road users certainly apply the brakes, start honking and wait impatiently till you have immersed into the traffic. It assumes to me to be a kind of war. Nobody wants to loose his position or surrender. It is always a tug of war for the best position in order to move ahead faster than the others coz nobody wants to waist his time in the traffic jam.
The roads by the way don’t deserve to be called roads, they look more like agriculture fields, full of holes and dust and every now and then little speed breakers which force the road users to slow down. It is really awful. In addition to that the roads are too small. Bangalore has grown and is still growing so fast that there is not enough space for the vehicles although currently some of the roads are maintained or widened. In order to gain space, Indian drivers clap their mirrors, use the sidewalks as roads as well in case there are any or the traces are simply divided according to the strength of traffic for the two directions. By the way, in case there is a sidewalk, it is usually in very bad state. Therefore, even in this traffic, you would prefer walking on the street. At least this applies to some sidewalks. One of the reasons for that is the fact that Indians throw everything in the streets. Hence, the sidewalks are full of garbage which I have to admit is tidied up at least in Bangalore by some old ladies every morning in some streets. But nevertheless, streets are dirty in whole India. And the second reason is peeing. You don’t have to read it twice. Yes, it’s true, Indians pee in the streets. Of course, not each Indian is peeing in the streets whenever he has to. But you will see at least one Indian peeing in the streets when you go around for some hours, believe me. At the most frequently used walls and sidewalks you can even read the sentence “Don’t urine here”. As if it is necessary to mention it. Well, unfortunately, it is but some still don’t care. Logically, there is sometimes a horrible perfume in the streets also because the cows join them. Well, what else is different concerning Indian traffic? I have made an effort and have taken notes whenever I have seen something incredible in the streets. Here is my schedule. Buses are usually crowded because it is the cheapest vehicle to go from one place to another. I have seen Indians both standing on the step with one leg and holding down on a rod and even sitting on the roof. Thus, buses have neither doors nor windowpanes; at least the public buses in the cities. Anyway, it is not necessary coz even if there were windowpanes you would open them. Having no windowpanes is the Indian way of providing air conditioning. By the way the same applies to lorries, especially when it deals with construction workers. The workers sit on the back of the lorry, which is usually much too small. It is so dangerous, I tell you. But not less dangerous is the carriage of gas bottles, ladders or windowpanes on a motorbike. But the funniest thing was a man with a sheep on the bike. I don’t know if it was still alive but I assume it was. I have even seen a complete family including three children sitting on a motorbike whereby the mother sits lengthwise on the bike and holds her baby in her arms - incredible. In Bangalore’s traffic you will find a lot of company cars conveying employees to work and back home. At the back of these cars there is usually a phone number mentioned which you can call in order to complain about the driver’s manner of driving. Sometimes even the victim brings the driver to justice himself. One day our driver almost touched a pedestrian and on another day almost a motorcyclist. In both times, the driver has been hit fiercely. The first time, I interfered but then the alleged victim also tried to hit me. They just want to get rid of their anger. As long as they haven’t got rid of it, they won’t stop and honestly speaking, you can't do anything against it. It is because of the casts in India. The driver is definitely in the lower cast than the pedestrian or the motorcyclist. Even it was told to the drivers by the our company, not to fend. The simply have to endure the hits. Let me lose one word about the rickshaw drivers. Judging what I have experienced in India, they always try to cheat you. Either they charge you a higher fare without going by meter or they take you for a ride when you go by meter. The only way to escape it is to know the fare or the shortest way.
The funniest story happened when we had to stop at a level crossing barrier on the way back home. In fact, it was not a level crossing barrier. It was more a gate, which was closed by a guard on both sides of the railways. Well, due to what happened then, I understood, why the unique traffic rule in India seams to be “There are no rules!“ On both sides of the railways they started waiting also on the trace for the oncoming traffic. Hence, you can imagine what happened when the gate was opened – a huge traffic jam and chaos. Everybody tried to edge his way through to cross the railways, the bikes and rikshaws first as they are small. All I could do was to smile and shake my head.