Inside of Outside

The taxis in Mumbai were interesting. They were all the same black and yellow colour on the outside, all the same kind of car, but each was personalized by the driver. Different seat covers, stickers and streamers and drawings and paintings all over them. I'm not really sure why, whether it was to attract customers, or just to differentiate their taxi from the thousands of other taxis, or just because they wanted to.



Speaking of taxis, driving in India is definitely an experience. The roads in the cities are paved and look pretty much like roads here in North America, except that the rules are much different. Stay inside the lines doesn't really mean anything, and two-lane highway means that you can fit about four cars or eight motorcycles across the road. Or if there's no more room and there's no oncoming traffic, you can just scoot over to the other side of the highway. Actually, even if there is oncoming traffic you can do that. Just make sure that you honk your horn constantly so that people know you're there.

The only rule of driving in India seems to be that if there isn't something else occupying a particular space, then you're free to put your vehicle there. And there's plenty of things to occupy the space. Besides cars, buses, and trucks, there's auto-rickshaws, bike-rickshaws, bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, wooden carts, wheelbarrows, cows, goats, donkeys, cats, dogs, and people, all trying to share the same space. And once you get out into the country, it's pretty much the same story, except that the roads get worse and when you swerve at the last second to avoid the oncoming bus, you're more likely to end up off the road and bouncing two feet off your seat as you go through potholes much bigger than any pot I've ever seen.

Here's a picture of a very calm moment on the streets of India.