Jugaad on the Road - Incredible India



If you cant beat 'em..........my sentiments exactly!

This picture was posted on Twitter by Abhishek Goyal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic East, Bengaluru
 



People-watching can be interesting anywhere. In India it’s thrilling, especially on the road.  Just take a look at the things people do here.

Indian cities we all know have burgeoning traffic. Widening of roads should therefore be cause for cheer. But wait. ………. In Bangalore passing motorists tear down broader roads at break neck speed, aggressively switching lanes to overtake everybody else.   People now also casually park cycles, cars, trucks, vans, on both sides of the road.  Were narrow roads easier and safer, I wonder?  

One-way streets are meant to ease the stress of oncoming traffic, right? Not here! A young lady I know found this out the hard way when she fell off her scooter trying to avoid a motorbike coming towards her. She angrily stopped the rider to ask why he was going in the wrong direction. He looked at her nonplussed.  “But my house is there” he said pointing beyond her. What was she fussing about? Surely she knew that if he took the one way rule seriously he’d have to ride at least half a kilometer ahead, take a U-turn and come right back to get into his street. Who does that?  

When you are at the wheel you never know what surprises await you.  Once having taken a short cut I cheered silently at the clear road - till I saw why it was empty. A house warming function was in progress just ahead and the colorful marquee extended right across blocking the road entirely. Arghhhhh! I was all set to start fretting, when a Good Samaritan got into brisk action inside the marquee. He pushed back chairs, shooed away boisterous children and waved me on. I drove through gratefully to cheers and waves.

Another time I was driving through a narrow street. Taking a sharp bend I was flustered by the sudden appearance of a little boy crossing the road right in front of my car.  As I frantically pressed on the brake the kid grinned cheekily and sauntered off with a wave!

A 360 degree vision coupled with an ability to ‘get there first’ will hold you in good stead. Vehicles overtaking from left without warning are so the norm that my instincts can sense the exact moment this will happen. Sometimes I take pleasure in blocking the vehicle sneaking up behind me. The driver is trying to edge past my car from the left - but now he has to honk! Ha my moment in the sun! Eventually he manages to bully past.

Escapades on two wheels could be counted among folklore. I anxiously watched a helmetless rider race past recklessly on his scooter carrying steel pipes that stuck out dangerously at the back. Deciding that in this situation distance is the better part of valour I kept a good distance behind. Balancing a cell phone between shoulder and ear with head tilted, to carry on a conversation while riding a motorbike, is so common it’s considered normal. And nobody gives a second glance at three grown men on a moped or at the family with three kids that has enthusiastically hit the road on two wheels.  

The daredevilry however is not always dramatic. Once maneuvering through peak traffic, my progress was hindered by two friends enjoying a nice chat. They were seated on two motorbikes moving in parallel at a leisurely pace in front of me. When I honked one of them immediately peeled off flashing a good natured smile in my direction.

NICE is the rather appropriate acronym for the otherwise long name of the expressway that partly rings the city. Users of the road in fact think it so nice they find ingenious ways of putting it to optimum use. A vanload of tourists sit on a dhurrie spread on the grass by the side of the road enjoying a picnic lunch, ignoring signboards that clearly forbid stopping on the expressway. Romantic couples stop to take cute selfies all the time. My favourite though is the group of young men who stopped to pose next to their motorbikes, a couple of them standing the rest squatting on the ground.  Their friend holding up a phone is lying prone facing them with his head lifted to get the camera angle just right. All this on the edge of the highway!

Our extraordinary behavior on the roads is perhaps reflective of our famed culture of innovation. It’s Jugaad.  It’s incredible India.