(NOTE: This is supposed to be posted right after my trip to India in December. I lacked motivation to do it. But when I revisited India last month, I felt I should put this up)
In the weeks before my trip to India, a number of my colleagues and friends were talking about how interesting my trip will be, considering the fact that I have not been home (India) in almost two-and-half years time. There's been a talk of this "reverse culture shock", and an experience that will be just totally different. [Just for your 411, the team that I am working with, here at Maryland, comprises of people that are working or have worked all over the world.]
I was very excited about all this talk and I was gearing up for my trip. I thought, "May be all this talk of reverse culture talk is just a individual experience, may be I will experience things a bit different than the things I got used to (in the 'States). I planned and prepared myself for many things like traffic, crowd, etc. After all, that is the country I was born and grew up, spent my first 21 years of my life.
Things certainly felt different for me in India. First off, I did not expect to be troubled by mosquitoes and stench in the Bombay International Airport. I could not stand the constant honking too. However, I quickly got adapted...after all, I was born and raised there.
Most notably, the traffic troubled me a bit. I kept thinking - "Is this where I used to drive? Is this how things were when I was here?". I somehow can not imagine 7 cars going in parallel on a four lane highway, at almost the same speed. It was as if the lane markers were just a formality, a mere work of art on the roads. Nobody cared for the traffic signs either. And as for the traffic lights, my heart just stopped each time our driver skipped a red and rushed through an intersection.
I was constantly thinking: "What will happen if all these horns from the vehicles were to suddenly magically disappear. How will they drive then? Shout at each other? Or, gently bump into each other to let them know that they want the right-of-way?" Oh, speaking of "right-of-way", there is no such concept in our country. I can honestly tell you that most of the drivers would have never heard of such a concept. Everybody wants to go ahead at the same time, everybody wants the road, everybody is in a hurry. The general rule of thumb is - the bigger the vehicle, the more right-of-way you have. Another rule to follow is that if there's space anywhere on the road, you can try to push through the gap, of course by constantly honking at the other drivers.
May be, I totally changed here in the US. May be, I got "Americanized" (Note the "Z"). I don't know...but it was difficult for me atleast for the first couple of days. But I certainly got used to the hustle-bustle of honking drivers, people crossing roads wherever they want, speeding cars, and animals on the road. I realized this only when I returned back to the States; As I was looking at the calm, free-flowing traffic, I told myself: "I am certainly missing something...and that something is the mad rush of traffic, the people, the food. I miss that something real bad... and that certain something is home. I really miss home!"
Oh well, life goes on....
As I was writing this, I happened to read a blog on InformationWeek. The text of that blog is strikingly similar to what I described above. More evidence I am turning into a "spoiled American", as some of my friends labelled me? I don't know for sure!
Day 1:
If you've heard horror stories about traffic in India, they're all true and probably don't do justice to the reality. The roads around Delhi were thick with traffic and lane markers were universally ignored by trucks, cars, scooters, rickshaws, bikes, pedestrians, and various farm animals. It wasn't unusual to be traveling down a two-lane road and see four or five cars riding abreast. The modus operandi is to honk, go first, and ask questions later. I've experienced many a white-knuckled cab ride from LaGuardia to Manhattan over the years, but New York cabbies don't hold a candle to the pure audacity I witnessed by every driver today. If their car horn broke I'm convinced that most Indian drivers would pull to the side of the road as debilitated as we would be if one of the wheels fell off of our car. The amazing thing about the driving display I witnessed today was that all of the jockeying for position appears to be done without incurring any rancor from the drivers that are being out-jockeyed. A resigned shrug was the only evidence that I saw that another driver took any exception at all.
Day 2:
The traffic is still unbelievable but I realized today as I examined the sheet metal around me that it was all intactÂno dents, dings not so much as a bumper out of place. There are rules, just not ones that I'm use to but they do appear to work. I have no idea what they areÂperhaps the constant honking is really a form of Morse Code.
