Driving In Amritsar

[Balait_da_Sher]

Driving In Amritsar

By Hargobind Singh

Tuesday, October 28, 2003 - 07:16 AM IDLW

In 1995-96 I was studying in India. While I was there I needed a mode of transportation that would get me to and from college. First, I tried taking rickshaws. That lasted for about a week! Then I decided to purchase a scooter, a Kinetic Honda, which I would drive across town to Khalsa College. After a couple of days I quickly learned the rules of the road.

Quite simply, there are none!

Driving in Amritsar is sort of like being inside a video game. Anything can unexpectedly come at you from any direction at any time. Intuitive awareness and lightning quick reflexes are required. I got an adrenaline rush dodging and weaving through the traffic. The differences, of course, are that I only have one life instead of three lives, a dinky horn instead of a gun and, unlike in a video game, if one crashes it really hurts!

I share the road with pedestrians, bicycles, rickshaws, scooters, motorcycles, mopeds, three-wheelers, push carts, ox carts, cows, mujhaan (water buffaloes), goats, pigs, dogs, horse-buggies, tractors and trolleys, cars, vans, buses, and public carriers, to name a few. Everybody expects everybody else to yield. It is a complete chaos of blaring horns, unmuffled engines spewing dark clouds of exhaust and sweating humanity. It is amazing to me that anybody gets anywhere but somehow they do!

In America, most people can't wait till their sixteenth birthday. That is the year that one can get a driver's license and start driving. In India it is a little bit different. Here one can drive as soon as they know how to work the pedals of a ca

r or how to balance a scooter. It is common to see an eight or a ten-year old driving their parent's car through heavy traffic.

Strictly speaking, in India you are supposed to drive on the left-hand side of the road. But people also drive on the right-hand side, down the middle, across the road and even on the sidewalks! It is not unusual to find someone coming straight at you on the wrong side of the road. The standard procedure at this point is to honk your horn and flash your lights. When all else fails, as it often does, quick evasive action is necessary.

Right of way is determined by vehicle size. Smaller vehicles yield to the larger ones. For example, if you are driving a scooter when a public carrier (pick-up truck) is driving on the wrong side of the road straight at you, you better get out of the way! Interestingly, a small vehicle with a loud horn can often outmuscle a larger vehicle. I have often seen an automobile yield to a scooter with an amplified horn. If you are on a scooter behind a public carrier (in its blind spot) and you honk your horn continuously, after a minute the public carrier might move over to see who is there. That is when you speed past it!

A scooter is only supposed to hold two people. If you have one scooter and two friends who want to go with you it is usually no problem. But the Indian cops rarely object. Usually they stand at main intersections. Before you get to an intersection one person gets off and walks across while you drive across and pick him up on the other side.

It is not uncommon to see a family of five on one scooter. The father drives, one kid stands in front of him, another is seated behind him and the wife is perched side-saddle on the back with the third kid in her lap.

When you get into an accident, a small one, whoever has the more expensive vehicle gets to beat up the driver of the other vehicle. I'm not sure that this is a written law, but people follow it pretty consistently. For example, if a scooter

gets hit or hits a rickshaw, no matter whose fault it is, the rickshaw driver gets pounded.

And I thought LA traffic was bad. For a real hectic driving experience come test your driving skills on the streets of Amritsar!

Hargobind Singh, who was a medical student in Amritsar, now lives in the USA.

[V]

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

In INdia people think they're driving a Airplane when driving

drive like dunnu what to say :|

In other hand...in Europe you gotta take a car license as if ur taking a pilot licens

Waheguroo Jee Ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo Jee Kee Fateh!!

[S1ngh]

WOAH.. so much dissing on my town amritsar i bet the author is malwaeyy

[Guest mehtab]

nah

he is doabi

[Balait_da_Sher]

WOAH.. so much dissing on my town amritsar i bet the author is malwaeyy

When i went to india last december after 8 years all i could say to the driver was,

"LET THE OTHER GUY GO, LET THE OTHER GUY GOO"

[Guest balwinderkaur]

WOAH.. so much dissing on my town amritsar  i bet the author is malwaeyy

'

'pindist' vickey dont diss the malwaeyy or the doaabey or the majhay or the choorey. hmm i dont think thats dissing amritsar.....hezz prolly warning us not to be shocked when we arrive there and see their standard of driving. *lolz* but i would love to have a go driving on their streets.....it will be a really interesting experience.

[Jkaur]

yupz experience dis when i went to India.. no signal ... only Horns work