AmreekaTrip [One Point Something] A Pedestrian Rant.
While visiting the US, there are some things relating to roads, driver and pedestrian behavior that seem completely alien to Indians. The most obvious one is the left-hand drive and driving on the "right" side of the road. I remember feeling weird when I wore the seat-belt while sitting on the passenger seat in a car in the US, because I've never driven in India.
More than anything else, is this overwhelming respect for the pedestrian. I say overwhelming because we live in a country where you cross the road wherever you see some space and hope that the people in the car speeding towards you, actually slow down or stop when they see you a few inches away. As a child, when I was scared of crossing the road, my father would tell me that pedestrians had the first right on a road. Having hardly ever seen that in practice, I wondered if it was his own perception. Since you don't see it happen in practice for the most part, you decide you have to toughen up or be prepared to be supremely patient and wait for traffic signals. Depending on certain areas, you may even use the zebra crossing. Otherwise, its jay-walking-while-hoping-you-don't-die-zindabad. Since I haven't begun driving yet, I wouldn't know how annoying it is while driving, to see people crossing the road dangerously. But I assume it is a two-way street. (Haha) (Also, I'm not blaming everybody who drives or everybody who is a pedestrian. Just speaking from my experience)
So, the following experience applied to my time in Hong Kong, as well as the USA:
You step out of your building or home or shop on to the street to cross the road. You wait, of course, same as you would in India. However, in India, we seem to exercise freedom of standing not at the zebra crossing but wherever we feel comfortable. (While this may be a bad practice, sadly, I know I have become habituated - given I have to cross Aurobindo Marg daily) Outside our homeland, you better stand at the zebra crossing, on the footpath. In India, we wait on the footpath or whatever is left of it, or on the road itself, for there to be a gap between a few cars or slow traffic or even an empty road and commence execution of project road crossing. However, there is a wait sign on the opposite end of the road/street with a timer. Sometimes, there is a button on your side - you press it if you want to cross the road and at some point, the timer will begin for you, depending on the traffic signal. There is a ticking sound. Which I feel triggers impatience in the Indian pedestrian. Or it certainly did for me. My instinct (or habit disguised as instinct) would scream within to cross the road - there is space, there is a gap. With every ticking sound, my impatience would scream. (This is unusual because I have been told I am a fairly patient person). And then, the walk sign indicates walking, I cross the road with much relief - close to no chance of dying. I could even dance and cross the road. I HAVE TIME.
You start getting used to this right/privilege. And its time for you to fly back home and let your instincts take over.
_________________________________________________________________________________
I had an experience yesterday and I feel like I must add to this post, despite having sort of nailed a satisfactory ending, with that line. Also, because if you've read my blog before - short posts are not my thing.
To learn to drive has been a work-in-progress since I turned 18. Okay, it has been one in the sense that it hasn't been progressing, and didn't have much work done for it in between either. I had always thought I would know to drive as soon as I turned 18 - however, various problems and lack of initiative hindered that. We won't get into that. No longer do I have an excuse - apparently, Delhi traffic and drivers aren't a reason to not learn.
Last week, I finally made sure I had my documents in place and called up various driving schools to understand what would be the best deal. We found one that seemed to be best suited - pick up & drop, flexibility in time, help in getting the learner's and permanent license and a reasonable rate. I was called and told to show up at their office early on Saturday morning. Apparently, along with some others, we would be briefed on the procedure for the learner's license. We would then have to head on to the RTO and make it happen.
Previously, whenever I had asked friends about the learner's permit MCQ test - the response was a puzzled look, a laugh or basically telling me they didn't have to take it and I shouldn't worry either. However, my parents and I thought that being prepared for a test, were there to be one, would be the best plan. The Transport Dept of the Delhi Government actually has a 50+ pages long PDF with a question bank and answers for this test. My parents and I went over the whole thing just for fun. Next morning, when I went to the Driving School Office, they handed me a sheet with all the traffic signs and symbols. Of course, some spelling mistakes were horrible. But it still kind of did the job.
We were five in total. Two guys - definitely older to me - and two girls - younger to me. We were shown the same question bank that I had gone over the last night. I felt like a know-it-all. I have to admit, it's been years since I felt like that student in a class. Of course, when I was younger, I was shy enough to not answer even if I knew it. But here I definitely came across as that student. I stopped answering after point.
We were shown other sample questions. Here's the thing - you may not have a great memory, i.e. maybe you couldn't remember all the signs on the sheet of paper they handed to you. But it feels impossible for me to grasp that you answer like you've never seen such signs in your life (definitely more than two decades of existence). When there is a sign with a huge P and an arrow to the right - you don't say that its telling you to keep to the right of the road. Or maybe I'm just being a huge geek/snob right now. But I really thought that in all these years, we knew that P stood for Parking. Or not, my bad.
Anyway, forget the signs. But the next few answers probably indicate that we understand rules of driving or rules of the road based on what we see happening.
"An ambulance is behind you. Will you first move ahead yourself and later give it way, give it way, or keep moving as you were?"
Three out of five answered, 'first move ahead and later it give it way'.
"You can see pedestrians waiting on the footpath. Will you stop the car on the stop line, stop the car on the zebra crossing or speed ahead?"
Three out of five answered, 'Stop the car on the zebra crossing'.
"When you go to the RTO and they ask you if you know how to drive, what will you say?"
"Haan, I've started learning."
The last answer blew me away. Because you can totally, legally learn to drive the car without a learner's permit.
More than anything else, is this overwhelming respect for the pedestrian. I say overwhelming because we live in a country where you cross the road wherever you see some space and hope that the people in the car speeding towards you, actually slow down or stop when they see you a few inches away. As a child, when I was scared of crossing the road, my father would tell me that pedestrians had the first right on a road. Having hardly ever seen that in practice, I wondered if it was his own perception. Since you don't see it happen in practice for the most part, you decide you have to toughen up or be prepared to be supremely patient and wait for traffic signals. Depending on certain areas, you may even use the zebra crossing. Otherwise, its jay-walking-while-hoping-you-don't-die-zindabad. Since I haven't begun driving yet, I wouldn't know how annoying it is while driving, to see people crossing the road dangerously. But I assume it is a two-way street. (Haha) (Also, I'm not blaming everybody who drives or everybody who is a pedestrian. Just speaking from my experience)
So, the following experience applied to my time in Hong Kong, as well as the USA:
You step out of your building or home or shop on to the street to cross the road. You wait, of course, same as you would in India. However, in India, we seem to exercise freedom of standing not at the zebra crossing but wherever we feel comfortable. (While this may be a bad practice, sadly, I know I have become habituated - given I have to cross Aurobindo Marg daily) Outside our homeland, you better stand at the zebra crossing, on the footpath. In India, we wait on the footpath or whatever is left of it, or on the road itself, for there to be a gap between a few cars or slow traffic or even an empty road and commence execution of project road crossing. However, there is a wait sign on the opposite end of the road/street with a timer. Sometimes, there is a button on your side - you press it if you want to cross the road and at some point, the timer will begin for you, depending on the traffic signal. There is a ticking sound. Which I feel triggers impatience in the Indian pedestrian. Or it certainly did for me. My instinct (or habit disguised as instinct) would scream within to cross the road - there is space, there is a gap. With every ticking sound, my impatience would scream. (This is unusual because I have been told I am a fairly patient person). And then, the walk sign indicates walking, I cross the road with much relief - close to no chance of dying. I could even dance and cross the road. I HAVE TIME.
At intersections without timers and signals, its amazing how respected you feel. For instance, even in San Francisco, where streets are on steep angles, hill-like, a car will stop for you to slowly cross. Sometimes, they stop for you and because you're Indian and used to giving the car the first right on the road, you wait. They wait. You wait. Very pehle aap-nahi, pehle aap. When they finally signal to you that you can cross. And then you feel this smile creep up on your face wondering what you did right. Or if you didn't actually want to cross right then, you signal to them to carry on.
You start getting used to this right/privilege. And its time for you to fly back home and let your instincts take over.
_________________________________________________________________________________
I had an experience yesterday and I feel like I must add to this post, despite having sort of nailed a satisfactory ending, with that line. Also, because if you've read my blog before - short posts are not my thing.
To learn to drive has been a work-in-progress since I turned 18. Okay, it has been one in the sense that it hasn't been progressing, and didn't have much work done for it in between either. I had always thought I would know to drive as soon as I turned 18 - however, various problems and lack of initiative hindered that. We won't get into that. No longer do I have an excuse - apparently, Delhi traffic and drivers aren't a reason to not learn.
Last week, I finally made sure I had my documents in place and called up various driving schools to understand what would be the best deal. We found one that seemed to be best suited - pick up & drop, flexibility in time, help in getting the learner's and permanent license and a reasonable rate. I was called and told to show up at their office early on Saturday morning. Apparently, along with some others, we would be briefed on the procedure for the learner's license. We would then have to head on to the RTO and make it happen.
Previously, whenever I had asked friends about the learner's permit MCQ test - the response was a puzzled look, a laugh or basically telling me they didn't have to take it and I shouldn't worry either. However, my parents and I thought that being prepared for a test, were there to be one, would be the best plan. The Transport Dept of the Delhi Government actually has a 50+ pages long PDF with a question bank and answers for this test. My parents and I went over the whole thing just for fun. Next morning, when I went to the Driving School Office, they handed me a sheet with all the traffic signs and symbols. Of course, some spelling mistakes were horrible. But it still kind of did the job.
We were five in total. Two guys - definitely older to me - and two girls - younger to me. We were shown the same question bank that I had gone over the last night. I felt like a know-it-all. I have to admit, it's been years since I felt like that student in a class. Of course, when I was younger, I was shy enough to not answer even if I knew it. But here I definitely came across as that student. I stopped answering after point.
We were shown other sample questions. Here's the thing - you may not have a great memory, i.e. maybe you couldn't remember all the signs on the sheet of paper they handed to you. But it feels impossible for me to grasp that you answer like you've never seen such signs in your life (definitely more than two decades of existence). When there is a sign with a huge P and an arrow to the right - you don't say that its telling you to keep to the right of the road. Or maybe I'm just being a huge geek/snob right now. But I really thought that in all these years, we knew that P stood for Parking. Or not, my bad.
Anyway, forget the signs. But the next few answers probably indicate that we understand rules of driving or rules of the road based on what we see happening.
"An ambulance is behind you. Will you first move ahead yourself and later give it way, give it way, or keep moving as you were?"
Three out of five answered, 'first move ahead and later it give it way'.
"You can see pedestrians waiting on the footpath. Will you stop the car on the stop line, stop the car on the zebra crossing or speed ahead?"
Three out of five answered, 'Stop the car on the zebra crossing'.
"When you go to the RTO and they ask you if you know how to drive, what will you say?"
"Haan, I've started learning."
The last answer blew me away. Because you can totally, legally learn to drive the car without a learner's permit.
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