incredibly india

well first off, we arrived safely in Delhi. i think i can say so far that India is everything i expected it to be (hot, noisy, crowded) and more. it's lively and exciting and i'm loving it. India just has the most.. culture (for lack of a better word) than any place i've been to. everything is so.. indian.

perhaps the most jarring thing about Delhi is the driving. i was prepared for reckless, ridiculous driving. but after being in Delhi for just two days I can attest that it is as crazy as they say. (‘they’, the faceless guidebook gurus I suppose.) and this wasn’t our first exposure to ridiculous driving – we thought we were well prepared having been to Morocco, land of no lanes and tiny streets, and even Greece, land of aggressive drivers. but India has them all beat. just on our drive in from the airport we passed bikes, rickshaws, mopeds, auto-rickshaws (basically a motorized scooter with a bench attached), oxen, buses, and even an elephant. the streets themselves are a free-for-all; flashing lights and horns mean get out of my way, red lights mean jam right up next to all the vehicles around you. three lanes (ha) of traffic really means four. at any given moment you could probably reach out and pat the deity adorning the rickshaw next to you, though on the back they all read ‘distance please’ (perhaps dramatic irony?). honking is not an angry gesture but a mandatory one, used to signal one’s presence. our driver confirmed that if you don’t have a horn, you don’t get a license.

but of course, as with any way of life, you quickly get used to it. we took auto rickshaws with pleasure, sitting back to enjoy the breeze and admire our drivers’ impressive skills. after two days of this constant beeping and skillful maneuvering, on our taxi ride to the airport i heard an unfamiliar sound. it was a turn signal.