How to cross an Indian Road

Uh oh, you're right. I forgot about the rickshaws coming from the other direction!

I tend to agree with the safety in numbers approach....fair enough the real fast things tend to be limited (though as time goes by, the speed of cars etc is increasing)but stick with the locals, they knew best.
Could we have a sub thread entitled 'Crossing the road on a moped' cos thats the really scary deal from what I experienced...especially at night when you come across drivers who prefer to use full beam or no lights at all!

My son reckons that crossing the road in India is just about the same thrill level as bungee jumping in new Zealand....

Its the same in Cambodia, Vietnam etc. crossing the road is like walking on water.... We are all spiritual here, if Jesus could walk on water....You just have to have faith.

Sorry, I have to disagree with that. While Bungee jumping at that Queenstown might seem dangerous, its actually not, there are safety procedures in place and adhered to. You cross the road, however, at your own risk. While I was at school in Chennai, one of my schoolmates was hit by a truck at speed. Luckily, he only lost a foot, but to this day, I can vividly remember that foot flying through the air and landing in front of me.

The power of the hand ...!
Congress [ I ]

its the one thing that partially works .

I have a different idea! It works everywhere, at least in India!! Whenever I need to cross the road, I stand on the edge of road near the footpath on the road, but not on the footpath. Then watch crossing vehicles. Every few minute I find slower vehicles or a gap in between. Mind gets synchronized and whenever find a gap I just cross over! If any person, with lesser road confidence, is accompanying always keep him/her on the other side of flow of the traffic.
It works for me, so should for others, also.

It's realistic, truth and funny as hell !!!

After reading this I realized how sophisticated a technique is this to cross the road !

Agree! First time I came in India I thought I was going to die, after getting over the fear I couldn't help to be reminded of a childhood video game "frogger" where you safely had to get your frog to the other side of the road without getting run over.

Is this similar to crossing the street in HCMC, Vietnam? Has anyone been to both to attest to this? It took a while to get used to HCMC, but it came with time. Heading to BLR in 3 months...

I have a limited visual field(blind in one eye) and this is my biggest complaint about India/Nepal. Have been traveling there for 13 years and it still terrifies me. The cars aren't even the scariest thing - it's the legions of motorbikes - because they are smaller hence harder to see and come from everywhere!! I generally use the 'cross with locals' approach but it's still scary for me.