You must’ve seen the films on YouTube. You may have heard the stories. Thick traffic, bumping into, brushing against other vehicles, pushing through a mix of cars, scooters, animals and people. Potholes everywhere, if there’s at all any asphalt surface. Brutal road conditions. How much of it is true?
This is it, we’re in India. Not the cosmopolitan streets of Bengaluru anymore, and with far fewer white people in sight. Food is getting even better, weather is still great, we’re integrating closer with local people, literally rubbing shoulders, and arguing over the price of watermelons.
I feel safer driving here than I do in Warsaw. Or elsewhere in the western world, for that matter. Even on a two-lane road, densely filled with speeding cars, and motorcycles zooming by left and right. I know I can count on others to adjust to my maneuvers, as long as I execute them clearly and decisively. It’s when I hesitate that others get confused.