If you drive in India and make a statement like
this, people are surely going to doubt your sanity. You either have to be a
crazy I-love-traffic-kind-of-person they show in Ads these days. Or probably
are in college and have a girlfriend to sit behind/besides you.
But I have my reasons for validating it -
- Honk at will. Everyone here thinks, only they see the red light turn green and shoulder the responsibility of informing of all other lazy heads. Honk to wake all other drivers to green signal. Sometimes, or rather at most times, if someone has honked it means they are in a hurry, assume they have an invisible red light mounted on their car and thus should be given the right to jump ahead of you magically. But mind you, like dogs barking, honking can have different meanings in different contexts and you should apply common sense, not logic to decode it. If an autowala honks at you incessantly, it does not always mean he is trying to make a pass at you. It sometime also means that he might just be asking you what time of hour it is or informing you that your dupatta is stuck in the car door. So caution is advised to understand the meaning of honk before applying your vocal skills and abusive language to god use
.
2. Yellow
traffic light means, don’t slow down yet. You see a yellow light
somewhere, it feels like there is an opportunity, it has a small window,
and if you don’t hurry up, you will lose it. You feel the sense of
urgency, the need to act fast instead of slowing down. Accept the challenge and drive faster.
3. If you
are a girl and know how to say “Please Bhaiya” correctly, chances are
people will even park your vehicle for you. People are kind enough to offer you free tips,
“thoda left, thoda left”, “nahin nahin thoda aur kaato”. Unless there is an emergency and your life depends on it, you can get most work done with those two magic words.
4. GPS or
no GPS you will find your way. People go out of their way to make sure you
have understood where you need to go. There are hundreds of videos and
news articles of how people ignore someone needing medical attention on
the road. But if you need to get your directions right, there is no need
to panic and consume your mobile data pack by putting the navigation on. They
might not really know the correct directions, but they will ask someone
for you or give you incorrect directions, but they will not let your hope
die.
5. You
rule the roads here. In true words, mere baap ki road hai. You see someone
is trying to cross the roads, without getting to the zebra crossing
(ofcourse there are no zebra crossing, but you are on the other side of
the table and are driving). What do you do? You drive faster. Because its
your right of way and no-one, not even that little angel on the shoulder
can take it from you (except the traffic policeman ofcourse). So if you see
someone trying to cross the roads and mock at your speed, you need to
teach them a lesson by speeding up and scaring the hell out of them.
Ha ha ha.. Nice post Namrata :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.zigzacmania.com/
Thanks Anjali!
DeleteGood post. :)
ReplyDeleteI have honked some times but with good intentions... like hanging dupatta and all.
Hehehe Indrani! That is exactly the reason why I love driving here, honking can have good intentions only in India.
DeleteHAHAHAHA! Spot on! I share your love of the 'Wonderful world of Indian Traffic'. http://myrootsmywings.blogspot.in/p/holding-thoughts.html.. Nicely written.
ReplyDeleteI almost feel like putting up a bumper sticker 'Honking isn't going to get you your way'
and 'If you keep honking, I've got all the time in the world to slow you down'...
Thanks Navin. That is the exactly the sticker I am going to print. Thanks much for the help :)
DeleteHehehehe! Send me a message when you print that out. I'll buy hundreds of it and distribute it to all my friends.
DeleteSo funny Namrata.. I could not help laughing myself. My husband believes GPS is always wrong and believes asking directions to people will always land him in right places -:)
ReplyDelete