Driving in India: Taking it to the Streets with the Mahatma

Don’t just take our word for it. Driving in India is tough and they know it. DLA research staff was impressed by the number of sites and blogs dedicated to confronting national plague of mayhem, danger, and discourtesy. And although I have been firm in reminding them that mayhem, danger, and discourtesy can be found on any corner here in Boston, the DLA staff was equally adamant in maintaining that India’s story was one that had to be told. I relented and agreed to one more posting on driving in India, something of a bibliography of DLA’s web research.

 
Street Signs in India:  Yeah, this will be on the test!

Many of these sites seem to be a result of the gandhigiri wave which struck India following the 2006 musical comedy, “Lage Raho Munna Bhai,” in which an underworld bigwig sees the light after beginning a series of conversation with a picture of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhigiri, essentially the practice of Gandhi’s tenets of truth and “truth force”, is something of a phenomenon in India. Disdained as “flower power” by some, practitioners hand out roses, apply its non-violent approach to social issue protest, launch volunteer work, and, yes, even work to bring gandhigiri to the nation’s driving problems. Thankfully, the DLA staff is made up mostly of MIT grads or near-grads so it isn’t likely that they will be swayed by the idea of handing out roses at the Andrew Square off-ramp. But you never know.

DRIVING SITES & BLOGS
The DLA staff suggests that readers who are real gluttons for this sort of thing can get a good sense of India’s struggle at the sites below.

EasyDriveForum describes itself as “an online platform to share, discuss, views and opinions related to plight of Indian roads, traffic, automobiles and woes of common citizens on roads”.

But EasyDriveForum really caught our eye with its site tag line, “Having a Healthy Disregard for the Impossible: Indian Traffic,” which seems to be the South Asian equivalent of DLA’s “manifest disregard for the rules of physics, courtesy, etc.” The site has an impressive selection of member areas including city-specific pages, news, polls, surveys, humor, and the ubiquitous “Driving Videos”

Indian Driving Schools a web site dedicated to improving all aspects of the driving experience in India and which describes itself as “a joy ride covering various stations with stoppages at various intervals, covering the journey to understand the most complex and yet dangerous road traffic systems - a monster ready to gulp the road users. So, fasten your seat belts and let's go!!!” Indian Driving Schools is a conventional site with a focus on regulations, transport authority activities, and driving license procedures. We were particularly enchanted by the site’s down-home, almost plaintive, tone. “ Stop!!! You have reached your dream driving destination” the home page beckons. And we know we are at home when they tell us that “every single driving experience on roads here is race against time and it is better to keep your fingers crossed if you are sitting next to the driver! Indian Driving Schools understands the trauma of driving in Indian conditions.” Sign us up.
 

Driving-India.blogspot offers a series of instructional driving videos on the site. The videos can also be acquired on a promotional CD to interested NGOs, groups, and individuals, pro bono, in an effort to attract funding for reproduction of the videos for distribution. The site bemoans that “driving in India & Indian traffic is mocked worldwide….hope is that Indian drivers and the traffic authorities will become aware of more effective driving habits that improve road safety in India. We have copied the West: replaced the dhoti with denim, high rise buildings for Indian cottages, burgers and coke instead of Indian breads and perhaps sugarcane juice. Surely we can copy the Western driving habits too.” Sure…just stay away from Boston!

Streetwise is a site promoting its book, Streetwise, which, they say, “…will help you keep safe in any traffic worldwide (no matter what you drive, or even if you walk). It is important to learn to keep to a code of conduct on the road for your safety and for the safety of others. It is the duty of every citizen to adopt a correct, responsible attitude and approach to driving. This book is aimed to help you help others. Guaranteed to deliver” Well, alright then!

 
Save Pune Traffic Movement is another “let’s deal with the traffic problem” site, this one in Pune, in state of Maharashtra.

Save Pune Traffic Movement (SPTM) is pure gandhigiri, despite the fact that it seems to pre-date the recent popular movement. SPTM advocates car pooling, social activities, involvement by influential Pune citizens (“beacons of Pune”), education, etc. But what we liked best was its truly heartfelt appeal to the city in a poem:

Ask "Who is responsible" and hear else's name
But breaking rules on road, is everybody's game!
Is this city or a zoo, let's first decide it.
Come on Puneites, Let's all do it!!

SPTM mission statement asserts that Pune can “ achieve the mission of complete transformation of traffic, only after we break the vicious circle of blame passing between various governing authorities themselves and the citizens…by motivating the conscientious citizens! “ Needless to say, DLA staff was skeptical that this would ever play in Boston.

LEARNING TO DRIVE IN INDIA STORIES

Everyone's got story about driving in India...and not just bewildered American expats. The following list is a sampling of some the more charming, although DLA staff could help sensing a common thread: bureaucracy and capriciousness. And bribery.

Carrie and Kabir An American woman marries an Indian man, moves to Mumbai, gets license, finds happiness...Carrie's blog of life in India.

The Old New Thing While not a driving blog or an Indian blog, this technology blog by Raymond Chen has a spirited exchange among readers who concur that “driving is messed up in a lot of countries” following a post about Chen’s experience driving in Taiwan. Lot’s of “can you top this” but the Indian anecdotes always seem to win. Scroll down for a good post on driving in Bangalore. Boston drivers didn’t even bother to enter this one…where’s the challenge?

A Driver's License in Kanpur On the verge of failing his drivers licensing exam, a robotics/machine vision professor from the Indian Institute of Technology sets out to discover what was wrong with his hand signals. Bribery, bureaucracy, driving: highly recommended.

Taking our driving test in the Indian city of Mumbai Entertaining narration as the author (an editor for automotive publisher Edmunds) takes his test with the Good Luck Motor Training School while behind the wheel of the 3-cylinder,796cc, 37-horsepower engine Maruti 800, a re-labeled Suzuki Alto.