Musings on Mumbai driving: I got through 6 months in Mumbai without driving but all good things come to an end and I now have to maintain a vehicle again. Almost as big a handicap in Mumbai, it seems, as in Manhattan. A different species of driver to deal with. Delhi drivers, of course, drive like mad dogs but Mumbai drivers appear to drive like pigeons. Have you ever seen a large flock of pigeons? They are all going about their business as usual when suddenly one of them decides to take flight for no obvious reason. All the others follow that one and the entire flock launches into the air, circles aimlessly and settles down to the ground again. I find exactly the same behavior among Mumbai drivers. Traffic comes to a halt at a traffic light. Suddenly one car decides, for some obscure reason, to launch itself across the intersection (there having been no change in color of traffic lights). All the other vehicles launch themselves across like a flock of pigeons. I have tried to remain stationary until the light turns green but the exasperated honks from behind me have, at times, forced me to join the flock. The fearless insertion: if you want to insert your vehicle into a stream of traffic from the side, apparently you merely do so and people will stop or slow down and let you in. In Delhi, they would not only crash into your car but also subsequently rush out with a gun and shoot you. This would probably happen in Manhattan too. The suicidal pedestrian: if a pedestrian wants to cross a busy road, he merely sticks out a hand and steps into the traffic. Miraculously, I have never seen one of these suicidal pedestrians killed. If they try the same stunt in Delhi I would estimate their mortality at 90%. One rule seems to hold across both cities: watch out for the people in front of you and the people behind you will watch out for you. BEST does an excellent imitation of the blue line buses in Delhi (now sadly extinct but once an unsurpassed population control tool).
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 18:20:29 +0000
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