mumbai with a view




most of what i've seen of the streets of mumbai look like this. actually, this is a better view than what i ususally get, which is from inside a rickshaw that has a very view-restricting low-hanging tarp. this city is huge and it's hot, and much more easily traversed by cheap private transporation. i walk out the front door, stick my hand out and someone picks me up and drops me off in front of where ever it is i want to go. that is, if i have good landmarks. there are no addresses here and no one knows the street names. if you don't speak Hindi, or even if you do but are going somewhere for the first time and can't give directions, you're in for a ride. everyone's address literally includes something like "next to Mehoob studios across from the British chemist". I am by three major landmarks (one being the ocean) and had a rick pick me up last night who did not know a single one. and of course they won't tell you this when they agree to take you in. after driving in circles (and down a busy one way street the wrong way) i finally jumped out.

the traffic reminds me alot of cairo. no lanes, no signaling, just sneak into whatever space ahead of you can and honk continuously. there is a language to the honking, which i'm picking up here and there, much more so than Hindi unfortunately. honk to let someone know you're behind, honk to let them know you want to pass, honk to tell pedestrians you're not going to stop and then there's the universal, pointlessly irritating honk-for-no-reason other than you're stuck in traffic and just want things to move.

unlike cairo, which is mostly cars and micro busses, you have cars, SUVs, taxis, motorbikes, rickshaws (three wheeled open air vehicles that remind me a little bit of a souped up go-kart), busses and bikes. it's a little harder to be a pedestrian here because there are multiple sized and varying speed vehicles that you can be struck by. amazingly i've only seen one fender bender so far. someone - maybe my roommate- said there's no such thing as a 'near miss' in india because there is no space to begin with. they know exactly where their vehicles begin and end, and with a physicists' precision, calculate every trajectory of every vehicle in front, along the side and behind without thinking. it's an amazing (and frightening) thing to behold.

the only real accident i almost saw was nearly caused by yours truly.. crossing the street i hesitated, not realizing all 15 vehicles coming straight at me had already mapped my path. when i hesitated, a few cries went out and everyone swerved causing an unpredictable moment for a half dozen vehicles. i learned my lesson fast, and now just walk right into it - everyone is somehow safer for it.