First impressions

(I've decided long before this post that it would be better to switch to English again, yet since the next few posts will be interesting to more nationalities than I imagined, it is time to put that in motion. Besides all my friends are proficient in English and will find no problem reading this.)

Many Indians, colleagues and otherwise ask me of my first impressions of India, mainly because I admit it's the first time I am here. The truth in this is that I may be too overwhelmed to give a straight answer.

At least not yet, but I realize that anything I say later won't be a first impression.

However all I can go by is what I experience, and to be honest, nothing created a better first impression than the perceived chaos on the Indian roads.

As I was warned not to drive myself here I have not even tried to arrange anything like a car (or a bike for that matter). Luckily I did not spend any time on that, because self drive would assuredly have lead to some personal disaster here.

Nothing can prepare you for the driving experience that you get when you hit the roads in Mumbai.

Even sitting in a backseat, the sound of honking and crisscrossing of vehicles on all sides are intimidating enough to keep me on the edge of the seat during the trips I make.

The main difference in driving in the many places I have been is the total ignorance of the lines on the road. The lines, signs, traffic lights make little impressions on the people using the roads. Out there it's the law of the cheeky. The more dominant you drive, the more chance you have of getting where you want to go. This is reflected in the way the drivers use their horns. In most countries I've been to, the horn is something hardly ever used, unless in iritation. The horn here is used all the time, in warning, irritation and a "watch out mirrorless idiot, I'm right behind you" - which usually means inches behind you, not yards, or miles. Here honking is encouraged, most trucks notify the driver behind them to please use the horn.

The way you get from one side of the road to another (for instance to get to the exit, which can be on all sides of the road) is to push yourself inbetween two cars, trucks, autoriksha's or whatever, then when that fails and the left side is clogged up with cars, you swing out dangerously to the right, swing by , cut off the car on your left and then squeeze between two motorcycles to reach the far left and barely miss the high concrete wall dooming up to divide the exit from the main road. Then you dive to the right because a lone tuktuk has a breakdown in the middle of the road and someone is standing (with death defying braveness) behind it to wave traffic away from imminent collision course. Of course the danger for life does not seem to phase many people here, perching high on piled up good in the back of a truck is not the safest way to travel is my opinion.

Obviously this has impressed me, and overshadowed my deep impression on the gorgeous gowns worn by the women of India, probably because of the lifethreatening effect some antics had on me.