A Functioning Anarchy

I've had a couple of requests, and I'm sure some of you are curious, as to the state of the roads and the standard of driving in India. So many words come to mind, but a quote from former US ambassador to India Bertrand Russell describing the country is foremost: “a functioning anarchy”.


One of the better roads

The roads themselves range from the sublime to the ridiculous, with the latter being very much in the majority. We've gotten buses almost everywhere so far, and we've hired a couple of cars too (our first train journey will be two hours from when I'm writing this), so I've seen a fair bit of asphalt and dirt. Potholes aplenty mean drastic avoidance manoeuvres, and in parts the roads are more like an off-road trail than a route between destinations. But the state of the roads is a minor story compared to the chaos that occurs on them.

Here's a brief synopsis of how it works: cows have right of way, ahead of everything else. Then it works by size. A truck has right of way over a car, and so on, all the way down to the stray dogs and pigs that wonder about. Indicating is rarely done, in cities not at all. Mirrors are usually folded in, to allow vehicles to squeeze through tighter gaps. You know if a vehicle is behind you if you hear their horn. Likewise, if you're approaching a vehicle from behind, or near a vehicle in general, beep your horn. In cities, this averages a horn use about once every 1.5 seconds.

It is recommended that you drive on the left, but if this doesn't suit the other side of the road is fine.

As for pedestrians, walk slowly, don't run or change direction quickly, and you'll be fine. The traffic will avoid you. Somehow.

Experiencing this in full motion for the first time was an exhilarating experience (it's in my Hynes genes). In Delhi and Jaipur especially, it's complete chaos. Approaching roundabouts I had a big smile on my face, that's where the most fun is had. No one stops at roundabouts, it's in perpetual motion, with no defined lanes to speak of. Road lanes are marked on the big roads but not used in the slightest. Overtaking is done in whichever manner and side is quickest. Quick reaction speeds and good spatial awareness is what keeps it all ticking over.

It's not just the way of driving over here, it's what's on the roads too that makes it so entertaining. Cows, camels, cars, trucks, buses, tractors, motor bikes, bicycles, auto-rickshaws, manual rickshaws, horses, pedestrians, people with carts, dogs, pigs, chickens – all finding the most direct route to their destination at the same time.

Incredibly, bafflingly, it all works. The only collisions we were involved in were due to the aging senses of Nana, our Japurian rickshaw driver, but they were minor, because there's so much traffic on the roads that no-one can go that fast. Amazingly, with all the traffic, there's never any gridlock. The traffic is always moving. No space is wasted. Traffic lights do exist, and they are obeyed at major junctions, but only when to ignore them would mean two flows of traffic bringing each other to a halt. No road rage either (no point). I love it all. Every rickshaw journey is pure entertainment.

On our bus journey to Pushkar, the Indian attitude to the rules of the road (yes they do actually exist) was summed up perfectly. It was the halfway stage of a long trip, and the bus driver wanted to pull over for an intermediate stop. Knowing the (fairly remote) terrain well, he knew there was food available up ahead in a little place on the opposite side of the (3-lane) motorway, with a central barrier (blocking our access to the rest stop). So at a right-turn junction well ahead of the stop, he crossed the gap in the barrier, and proceeded to drive up the wrong side of the 3-lane motorway for half a mile, evading oncoming buses and trucks along the way. None of the Indians on the bus batted an eyelid. This was the fastest way to the rest stop, so what was the problem?

(I think John has a video or photo of this, I'll put it up here if he has)