There is no such thing as "rush hour traffic" in India. The best way to describe it is some how controlled chaos 24/7. On a one lane road at any given time you will have 15 vehicles (of sorts) around you. You can not even stick a finger out of your window with out touching at least two other vehicles. You wouldn't even think about trying to stick your arm out FORGET IT !... The ride to work is normally very crazy. Everything is on the road all moving at once coming at you from all directions from bikes, chickens, stray dogs by the dozens, motorcycles, scooters,
rickshaws, cows, horses, cabs, street vendors pushing their carts to a new location to sell their treasures,
buses I could go on and on. The smell of exhaust is overwhelming you will see people covering their mouths with cloth as the walk along the side just trying to breath. Car horns constantly fill the air like music being played in
rhythms that only the locals know what they mean. People trying to carry on conversations with others on different sides of the street so they attempt to yell over the horns.
Beggars coming up to the windows to tap on them when the cars slow down hoping someone will drop a coin in their hands. Babies
crying, children chasing
each other giggling, people randomly digging in the dirt along side the road (still
trying to figure that one out). While all of this and MORE is going on I look up at a bus one day and see the boy who appears to be in total peace just day dreaming. Amazing
The signs here crack me up. (Speed Thrills But Kills.) Let's not mention though you can have as many people as you can pack onto a motorcycle (including small children and babies) and the only one required to where a helmet is the driver. LOL (I am getting a collection of pictures together that show just how many people can fit on one motorcycle. I can't wait to get enough for a good post it should be enlightening and shocking.)
This is one of the biggest roads around the hotel. I believe it is 3 lanes but as you can see it looks more like a starting line at the beginning of some crazy race. Keep in mind this picture was taken in the middle of a Monday when traffic is "light". This may give you some insight into what a mess it really becomes during rush hour. I must say though being in India is doing wonders catching me up on my sprint training cause you have LOST YOUR MIND if you think you can walk across these roads. For those of you who are not runners, its like the highest level in the Atari game Frogger everything is zipping past and if you think too long when you see an opening without a quick move .......... SPLAT!
