How to cross an Indian Road

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been promoted to the Articles section. You can read the article in its entirety here:

http://www.indiamike.com/india/artic...n-indian-road/

I told someone once - "Its like learning to walk on water - you cross the road one foot at a time"

There must be something about the roads in Bangalore because I sometimes find myself mentally theorizing about road crossing myself.

Its either:
"Zen and the art of Bangalore road crossings"
or
"use the force, Luke"

Either way, you have to think like a road user even if you a pedestrian. Imagine you are a rickshaw drivers and if you spot a gap, the go, and fill it with your body. You have as much right to the road as a motorbike, car, riskshaw, bus or truck, but remember you are softer and hurt more. Once you have started do not stop or change direction mid-crossing. Never run. Traffic will smell any fear you have so put put fear from your mind. Have humility and respect the traffic. Remember pride comes before a fall.

Its something that cannot necessarily be taught easily. It requires practice and meditation. Once you have mastered then the rewards are great, ie the ability to cross even 5 lanes of traffic without fear.

"Do, or do not, there is no try!"

I just stepped out in front of the traffic and held my hand up, for some mysterious reason this always halted thetraffic dead in it's tracks!!

The "mantra" that entered my head when being a pedestrian or riding a moped in the traffic was.. "He who hesitates is squashed".

Here is what I do everyday:
Wait at the edge of the road. Keep looking left and right (it is a divided road, but who knows where vehicles are going to come from?). Wait patiently for vehicles to pass and a gap to appear. Of course, this never happens, so I get frustrated. Then run across half the road in front of a government bus with its horns screaming. Stand on the divider. Repeat all previous steps.

An auto rickshaw ran over my foot today while I was waiting to cross the road. I was wearing shoes, so no injuries.

In India??

and your point is? (...she said facetiously )

sounds like the way we Chicagoans cross the street in downtown Chicago. I'll feel right at home!

Yeah, i too was very by it but hey it worked!

I felt safest in traffic when hanging out with a friendly cow.

The calcutta method of crossing roads is:
(for tourists..locals know the gig)

1. Make eye contact
2. Put out your hand palm facing the driver
3. make like moses crossing the red sea
4. cross. if you build it people will come, and pretty soon you have an impromptu pedastrian crossing.

5. if the driver as much as blinks, curse roundly.

The Calcutta method works in Delhi also but not Amritsar!

Once in Trivandrum at a road with what seemed like about 10 "lanes" of non stop rushing vehicles, we just completely chickened out and hired an auto rickshaw even though we had only a couple blocks more to go to the University.

Well, D-D, I know you're a native with a lifetime experience of this, but this last seems to me the one thing you got wrong .


Maybe it's different in Bangalore, but here in Chennai there is an interesting fact about pavements...

Nobody walks on them

Why? That's easy: they are just far too dangerous!

They are full of huge holes that, once you fall down you will never be seen again. If you manage too keep an eye open for the holes you will cut your head open on the piece of angle iron, or corner of a billboard that you didn't see. Keep your eyes up and ahead and, if you are lucky enough to miss the holes you will spoil your day by stepping in something unspeakable.

This is what pavements are for...

• Sleeping on
• Setting up fruit stalls on
• Selling anything else on
• Parking vehicles on (except where the curb is 18 inches high, of course)
• Using as a public convenience
• Feeding place for cows
• Feeding place for families
• Running a motor-bike repair shop
• Building a temple on
• Place to grow a huge tree (nice that they don't cut the down here...)
• Place to display whatever the adjacent shop sells

The list could probably go on and on, but the bottom line is that people don't walk on pavements: they walk in the road!

The technique that worked for me was to attach myself to a crowd of locals who were trying to cross. I would stand slightly down stream and watch what they did. As a gap appeared in traffic they would inch forward... If the gap opened the crowd would cross as a group with me in the lee of a human buffer. It appeared that drivers were not concerned about running over one or two people, but anything over a dozen stopped them.
Indian traffic hones your sense of self preservation to a razor edge.

Wanderer22