Honk OK Please

Driving in India is quite an experience, but I think I've managed to calm myself into a semi self-anaesethetized state whenever I'm riding in a car here.

After the first night's wild ride from the airport to the hotel, I tried to use the second car trip to figure if there was a "method to the madness". And there is - sort of.

But first a word about roads in India. I've never experienced anything like it! When you're traveling in it, it's like being in the eye of a kicked beehive -- motorcycles and cars and trucks and buses and rickshaws and bicycles swarming behind and ahead and all around, honking and beeping and gears grinding. And add to that a swarm of hornets shooting directly at you, in the form of more honking and beeping motorcycles, trucks, rickshaws and buses.

Our driver the second day spoke a little English and I picked up some 'tips'. First, everything is the opposite from us - you pass on the right - and that can be unnerving. And while it's even more unnerving that no one seems to follow traffic lanes, that's because it's next to impossible in the urban areas where a road is an obstacle coarse. Pot-holes, road construction, dumped garbage, buffaloes, and throngs of people.

Drifting was also common on the relatively open highway, but here I saw the driver --going at least 90 mph-- would always swoop over and halfway behind an overtaking car even if there was plenty of room to pass in the open lane, honking or flashing his lights or frequently both. This is so the driver will see you in his mirrors before you the driver move into the 'blind spot'.

After that first trip, I've been fine. Here's why - I think - No Road Rage. With all that honking and tearing and swooping and crowding, you would think the bullets or maybe the fists would be flying. Not so. It's a fact of life here - Get Over It.

I am starting to take small sightseeing trips in the morning before work, and I have the same driver, a slight, small guy with a little mustache who drives me in his white "tourist vehicle". His name is Krishna -- "Name-of-GOD!" with a stab to the sky. I point at things and he tells me what it is. I pointed at a Skoda car, which I've never seen before (looks like a Saab), and Krishna said "Volkswagen". I pointed at a life-sized gold-colored statue and Krishna said "political poster". On our drives, Krishna now points out "Hospital" "Mall" "Temple" "Police" on a regular basis.

It takes approximately an hour to get to downtown Pune and Krishna has to stop and ask for directions for the places I'm trying to see. I haven't mentioned my little trips to some people because I know they'd think I'm crazy getting into a car with someone who doesn't speak much English and doesn't know where he's going.

I think that's part of the charm. Taking a wrong turn somewhere, I've seen more of Pune than I might ordinarily. I just sit back and watch the neighborhoods and look at the buildings as they go by.

But I'll tell you what, Krishna is a very good driver. After we smoothly passed a truck facing down a squadrant of beeping rapidly-advancing Rickshaws on a two-lane overpass and downshifted back into the lane behind a steady stream of cars, I said "Good job." and Krishna smiled a huge toothy white smile.