Indian driving
Thursday, 16th November 2006 by tomSo It’s going on a week since I came back from Bangalore and I’m sure everyone is panting for news vis-a-vis what it was like 
. If I’m not too lazy, I’ll post something over the weekend, but here’s something to be going on with… the driving.
You may recall Julie’s comment on her cabby’s driving in Frankfurt that, “figuring he must have some skill to still be walking and talking in his fifties, I tried to reassure myself that he probably wouldn’t kill us off on the way to the airport.”
Can’t say the same for my taxi driver last Thursday morning — he can’t have been more than 23. He did teach me an interesting lesson though: that driving recklessly is not all that bad when you consider that recklessness is deliberate and somewhat controlled.
Thursday’s driver was more hapless than reckless — totally out of control of his vehicle. Twice he nearly collided with another vehicle (one stationary) and once he did collide quite hard with the kerb. It didn’t help that he appeared not to actually know his way around Bangalore — instead he kept asking directions of other drivers and passers by. Although I put a stop to that because by then I knew the way and was able to guide him myself!
In fairness, I must say that traffic in India was strangely cathartic after driving in the UK, where the laws are enforced with a machine-like tenacity and no humanity at all. Oh, and to be in a place where everyone knows just how big that space needs to be for them to squeeze through it — bliss!
