Driving in India

I did it. I drove in India. After incessantly asking me to drive while I was visiting Delhi over Easter weekend, Shelly finally made me get behind the wheel on our way to Rishikesh a few weekends later.

It was after Shek and Bhawna's engagement and Shelly and I were killing time before I had to go to work and he was driving back to Delhi with Shek and a few others. We decided to make a quick trip to Rishikesh, check out the rafting for some possible trip in the future (it will have to be when I return in the fall) and just hang out.

We stopped at a petrol station to fill up and the next thing I know, I'm getting behind the wheel. Nearly all cars here are standards, so not only was I driving on the wrong side of the road, in a country with very loosely defined rules to the road, on the wrong side of the car, I was now also shifting with my off hand. Thank goodness for the years of playing piano and basketball - I am relatively ambidextrous. So one challenge conquered, at least enough to not have to look down at the shifter every time I went from first to second to third.

Next challenge, spatial perception. This was actual the biggest challenge for me. I know my Toyota Corolla very well driving around Los Angeles. I know what turns I can make and what parking spots I can fit in. I go crazy when I get stuck behind a Mini that is driving like a Hummer because they don't know the corners of their car. But sitting on the other side of the car and having all the extra space to my left instead of my right, through me for a loop. It took me a good five or ten minutes before Shelly stopped grabbing the wheel and gently steering me away from the side of the road. The road to Rishikesh is flat so he wasn't worried about going off the side of a mountain, more concerned about the random bikers or carts that might pop-out. Fair enough.

I finally more or less got my perception figured out, or enough of it down that I could drive without constantly adjusting. Now it was time to start figuring out the rules by which everyone drives in India. Chicken. The game of chicken. That's the rules and not how I wanted to play. Whoever honks first has the right of way if you're driving down the middle of the road (which everyone does), but sometimes the honking isn't for you. So that just adds another challenge. Sometimes the honking is just because there is a truck parked on the side of the road and there might be a motorcycle in front of the truck, so the car is warning the potential motorcycle that they are coming. Of course, since I'm coming against this car I can see there is no motorcycle so I have to guess is the car honking at me or the imaginary motorcycle. Ahhh!

I guessed right, or Shelly guessed right for me. We survived and I made him drive as soon as we got to Rishikesh where the cars, motorcycles, bikes, cows, carts, and people multiplied. I had enough of the guessing what that horn meant game on the relatively open road and avoiding potential objects in the road to even think about negotiating the roads of Rishikesh. But now I can say I drove in India. I have had the experience and I don't need to repeat it. I appreciate even more everyone who has driven me around for the past four months and who will drive me around in the future.