Good brakes, good horn . . . Good luck!

According to our driver of the last week, these are the essentials of driving in India. I wish I could really convey what driving is like here but you have to see it to believe it. Start at the bottom with animals; dogs, sheep, camels, horses, donkeys, and of course the ever present cows which roam freely in traffic wherever and whenever they please. Next, people on foot. Thousands upon thousands everywhere, walking next to, in and across the road at any time and place. Include the very small children who will stand in dangerous traffic to knock at your car window to beg for money but who are ignored by everyone and somehow survive without getting run over. Next come the bikes, big, small, rickshaws, bikes with flatbeds hauling huge loads, every type of bike. Now the motorcycles of every size and shape, darting in and out of traffic to exploit any possible opening, moving at high speed in dense traffic often with an entire family on board, tiny children either in their mother's arms or wedged in between mother and father or between the driver and the handlebars, and naturally, no helmets. Then the tuk-tuks; small three wheeled taxis designed to carry a maximum of three but often having as many as 9 or more, hanging out of every side and holding on to any place available. Then of course cars and trucks, from the smallest Tata Nano to huge commercial trucks. What's really interesting is that nobody follows any sort of rules. It is truly the wild west of driving. Wrong way on a one way street or highway - no problem. Everyone race for a small opening - essential to survive. And it's all done with such small tolerances, such tiny margins for error, that you simply cannot believe it. You can't look. You just have to have faith in your driver. But somehow, somehow it all works. In the U.S. people would be killing each other. Here it's all taken in stride. Nobody even gets mad. Nobody seems upset. I think there are just so many people they have simply come to accept this and realize they are all in it together. Kind of nice.