Idiosyncrasies of the Indian Culture, part 2: uniquely about the traffic!

Now, once again, I simply MUST bring up the subject of the traffic. Of course I have commented on this already, but one can never say enough as the amazement never ends! I have witnessed SO many near collisions I cannot even begin to tell you. But that is just it: NEAR--not actual--collisions! It is as if by some form of strange magic that the two vehicles--whether it be two cars, bus and car, car and rickshaw, motorcycle and scooter, bicycle and scooter, pedestrian and all of the above!--it never actually happens. At least, that I have seen or heard of. I simply cannot understand it in any rational way!

As for being a pedestrian myself,  I am endlessly terrified of being run over, and I mean by any and ALL of the aforementioned vehicles! I am including mere bicycles. I cannot begin to tell you how many times bicycles--like scooters and motorcycles--seem to appear out of nowhere, and NEVER, and I mean NEVER EVER, slow down, even when seeing a pedestrian in their path! They will swerve and go around, true,  but at the same, horrifying speed as their initial approach. I am frequently shrieking, swearing, giving the drivers scathing looks. Even so, they all look at me is if I am the crazy person because I am not making enough of an effort to get out of their way! But I AM, of course--it is simply impossible to see them coming so much of the time.

And, they do honk. Oh my God. Incessantly. Like crazy. All the time. Constantly. Is this redundant? It is intentional. There is SUCH redundancy to the honking that one marvels: "Why would anyone pay any attention at all? Isn't this totally akin to the boy who cried wolf, and simply tune all of this out?" But no matter, the honking goes on. The drivers clearly must believe it IS effective, despite the cacophony of multitudinous vehicles honking all at once, or else why would they do it? And who am I to say it is NOT effective, since I have already admitted that I have never witnessed an accident, even though they seem SO very inevitable?!

So this is my strategy: attach myself to an Indian who walks like he or she owns the road, and if possible, an entire group of such folks. I hate to say this, but I do my best to be on the side furthest away from the oncoming traffic, so that the other person would be mowed down before me, thus if nothing else slowing down the trajectory enough to do less damage by the time it plows into ME! Is this terrible, or what?!? My more benign sort of thinking is, "Well, there is certainly strength in numbers! Surely that car won't mow down ALL of us?!?!" But, of course, this is INDIA, where there doesn't seem to be many, if ANY, rules of the road, so it is a dangerous assumption to make!

Every day, I feel blessed to be alive and intact, I can tell you. The perils of being on these roads makes one truly grateful to have survived yet another day!