Driving in India

I have many grouses about my day-to-day life in India -- and the way Indians drive is pretty much near the top of the heap. It so happens that I love my car and like to drive it myself -- the price I pay is having to contend with the most insensitive and unruly drivers on a daily basis. And it is not just the paid chauffeurs and taxi / bus / autorikshaw drivers who flout traffic rules with impunity -- a majority of the so-called 'bhadralok' are no different. In my opinion, the two main reasons for this kind of animal-like (junglee) behaviour on the road are :

a) The basic nature of the quintessential urban Indian dictates complete insensitivity towards inconveniencing a stranger -- "I must get ahead, and to hell with the other fellow in whose path I cut in or who gets elbowed off the road -- it is his problem, not mine". This same insensitivity manifests itself in many things that are quite common in India -- like tossing garbage / litter on the road, spitting on walls, playing ear-splitting music round the clock during 'festivals', blocking major thoroughfares during political / protest 'rallies', parking without bothering whether another car is getting blocked, etc., etc.

b) Grossly inadequate enforcement -- the traffic police simply turn a blind eye to most offences. This is particularly evident in Kolkata where the traffic constables usually just sit inside booths at road intersections and manually operate traffic signals. They require to meet some weekly quota of booking traffic offenders -- so they just note down the numbers of a few vehicles which are jumping the light or getting into a one-way road from the wrong side -- owners of these vehicles get a challan by post about two months later! Not surprisingly, it is mostly private cars which get 'challaned' this way -- buses, taxis and autorikshaws pay regular 'hafta'. Govt and police vehicles are a class apart -- they are officially allowed to break all rules including jumping signals in Kolkata. Sometimes I wonder why the 'babu' sitting at the back of a govt car never feels the urge to chastise his driver.

One very common technique in West Bengal to avoid getting your number noted is to write the numbers in a very small size using a flowery / thin font which cannot be read beyond a distance of a couple of metres. Almost 90% of the motorcycles and 60% of the cars are using such number plates -- very few old-timers like me are adhering to the size and font laid down in the Motor Vehicles Act. Funnily, during my 5 years in Kolkata I have never seen even one instance of a vehicle being pulled up / challaned for using illegible number plates.

When people know that they can get away with violating rules, why won't an inherently indisciplined populace violate rules? The solution lies in danda (enforcement).

One big city where I found the traffic cops to be relatively efficient is Bombay. There I found vehicles getting challaned for lane-cutting, rash driving, overspeeding, unnecessary honking, illegible number plates, head / tail lights not working, etc. -- totally inconceivable in this lawless metropolis of Kolkata where every commercial vehicle is forced to display the slogan "traffic ayeen mene cholun" (obey traffic rules)!! Interestingly, this is probably the only place in India where the police force is unionised and it is almost impossible to take departmental action against an erring constable. I find these cops most 'effective' between 8 PM to 8 AM when trucks are allowed to enter / leave the city and every 200 metres these fellows stand like beggars to extract one or two rupees from every truckwallah (otherwise they will be harassed, their papers will be scrutinised, and some flimsy fault will be found).

The 'stuff' Kolkata cops are made of was most evident during the terrorist strike on the US Consulate here a couple of years ago when a large group of armed policemen were seen cringing and hiding behind police vehicles. The terrorists merrily did whatever they wanted to and escaped coolly.

In India, no truck gets pulled up for 'usual' things like not having working head / tail lights, iron beams / bamboos sticking out several meters beyond their tail end, etc. Every commercial vehicle driver has to keep lots of small change and then anything goes.

I just returned from the Darjeeling hills -- driving 680 km each way through West Bengal -- badly broken / potholed roads (about 60% of the 600 km stretch between Kol and Siliguri) and unruly traffic -- sometimes I wonder whether it is a streak of insanity in me which makes me do such things -- but when I reach the well maintained ghat roads in the fragrant hills (or a good stretch on the highway) I forget all my travails and imagine that there is nothing like driving in my own beloved car!