India's Sadak - The roads of India part I

7 years ago I was trying to cross a street in Manila. Big challenge! I was going from the hotel to a beer-shop (to buy water, of course), with a Russian friend, Dasha. On the way some ring road high-way, with 6-8 lanes that we had to cross. So, we walked some 400m till we found a pedestrian crossing, with red-lights. Then we wait for it to turn green. It does. We are thinking - "cars stop - we cross". Noooooooooooooooooooo. Totally wrong. I had the feeling that cars go even faster when the redlight is on. We watch the trafic mesmerised. We wait for a new turn of green light, maybe second time it works. Neaaaah. Same. We are thinking then, how the filipinos cross the street? We decide to wait until one shows up, and learn from their example. Some 5 minutes later, one filipino guy shows up. Hahaaaaa! Let's se him crossing, we say. So, we're waiting for the next pedestrian green light. HE DIDN'T! He starts crossing the street in the same time with the cars, running forward two lanes, back one lane and so on, untill he reaches the other side, just like you do in those funny old computer games! Next filipino guy, same story. We look at eachother, and we donno whether to laugh or to cry. Later that evening, we were telling the story to our friends, about how filipinos respect traffic regulations. Europeans laughed, but one wise friend of mine, Ha, from VietNam, taps me on the shoulder and sais:
" - My friend, this is not called breaking the law, this is called Flexibility!"
India is a lot more "flexible" than the Philippines! crossing the street is a daily challenge. I see newcomers here, looking left and right before crossing the street, then looking scared or disencouraged. And I tell them: Buddy, stop looking. If they see you are looking, they will assume that you saw them, and they will pass first.
All indians HAVE to pass first! It's a must. You have to feel the street. Be one with the street. You have to close your eyes and cross in complete serenity. There is no point in looking right and left. You look right, it's clear. By the time you have finished looking left, 3 cars, 2 bikes, one cow, 5 people, 2 bike ricsaws asking you if you need a ride, one kid selling you something you really don't need, 4 ricshaws and the occasional truck will all be coming in the same time as an avalanche towards you! So stop looking, start crossing!

Roorkee, 26th of October 2010