Shilpi tells the story of the nomad who is woken up in the middle of the night by his camel. "It's cold out here" says the camel (who is obviously one of those rare, talking camels), "do you mind if I just poke my nose inside the tent?" Five minutes later, his nose warming nicely, the camel pipes up again. "My ears are a bit nippy," he says, "mind if I put my head inside?" And so it goes on until the camel completely fills the tent and the nomad is pushed outside.
That's how it is driving in India, and I was thinking of this story and laughing to myself as I was edging out into traffic the other day. No quarter is either expected or given on the roads here. As long as you understand that, it's fine, and I gave up blowing a gasket a long while ago. I still curse at people of course but I actually find India quite a good antidote for road rage. You can pretty much do what you like and get away with it. Woe betide you though, if you have a scrape. It's not uncommon to read that a fatal accident has resulted in the "driver absconding." Too right. In such cases your options are limited. Remain at the scene and get beaten to death by an angry mob, or do a runner. I know what I'd choose.
This post was first published on Blogger on 24th April 2008. Image borrowed from Bolo Kids which also re-tells the tale above.
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