Just a couple of days ago, I almost bumped into the car ahead of me due to icy road conditions - "black ice". We had a snowstorm and since I had decided to go to work anyway, I boldly took my car out and joined the streaming but crawling cars on the highway. I diligently remembered my "driving in winter:101" lessons from the past, and maintained sufficient distance, and what not, but I still ended up in that tough spot. Thankfully, it was still an "almost" only situation and in the last minute I swerved to the shoulder on the right and managed to come to a stop in a big pile of snow.
And despite the few seconds of surrendering to the inevitable, my heart wasn't racing too much. I barely chuckled as it reminded me of driving in India, which I was doing not so long ago. To any one who has traveled there and experienced the traffic it is quite a revelation at many levels.
It can be best described as something in between a dance choreographed by thousands of folks who come together with no rehearsal and somehow figure it out extempore - and organized chaos. It is also usually quite eventful and colorful what with the myriad of vehicles, and rules made up just in time, pedestrians who have become so used to traffic they walk around it ignoring it and the occasional cows that are taking a nap in the middle of a busy road nonchalantly, and the stray dogs that can pounce out of the side streets any second.. I can go on and on..
It is also not unusual to see very many emotional, but mostly irate drivers. They are also quite animated, and often demonstrating that the sign language for traffic participants in India is quite evolved. It can be a total mind-body experience with not just the sights but the various honking sound-effects - a spectacle indeed!
If you think high-speed car racing is mind boggling to you, you should see the bikers in the India roads amidst heavy traffic. Statistics show they are responsible for majority of traffic accidents in India, and not surprisingly. I particularly used to dread the "weave maneuver". This is where the biker is trying to make progress in small increments in between the larger vehicles waiting at the light or stuck in a jam. I have sat in a pillion or two, always wondering where my knee is going to bump into or what will jab my ribs. I kid you not - you come that close to other vehicles, to sometimes even end up locking eyes with a complete stranger sitting inside a car or an auto-rickshaw. They have the "you idiot" condescending look written all over their faces, and of course it is directed at the ones who are riding the bikes or innocent back-seaters like me who are considered the accomplices.
Oh - and you should hear about the "side-walk stunt". This is where the bikers are actually riding on the sidewalk which are mostly non-existent to begin with, and with an intent to save (their) time, end up causing more deadlocks. Not only do they need to face off with the pedestrians who are on an adventurous hike themselves, but also need to manage the occasional good citizen who tries to object.
My favorite is the "staring contest" that happens as the norm - in turns that are not protected. It is tacit that the drivers are in a race that is to be won in a matter of microseconds. Each driver wishes until the very end that the other one will give up, but the final winner isn't declared until that very end where the loser comes to a screeching halt, and the winner triumphantly makes the turn.
And although I was personally driving an auto transmission, it still baffles me how you could even possibly drive a manual. It is yet another variable in the mix - changing gears I mean. We need to declare a special Nobel category for drivers who also have their cell phones in one hand and conversing while they are in amidst this circus.
So as I fill my car with the de-icing windshield wiper fluid, I ponder the somewhat predictable challenges of winter driving. And I say to myself, "Black ice? Bring it on!" and simply grin.
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