Here are some videos I found searching online that give an idea of what it is like in India:
This is a short documentary on the issues of the Ganges aka Ganga River:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVgqcZl-c6g&feature=related
varanasi 3: This photo montage shows typical street and river scenes in Varanasi from laundry wallahs to shoe wallahs...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PvrZ3bd5gs&feature=related
varanasi and the ganges: This video from a boat in the river shows bathers and typical river scenes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrWs00VOw08&feature=related
varanasi traffic shows the variety of conveyances in the streets of varanasi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvrs7Vxds8A
This video views typical traffic patterns from above a street corner. You can see how drivers aim for "the gap", continually move forward if possible. It seems helter skelter to the Western mind. It reminds me of a San Francisco driver telling of a stop light being out on Market near Castro in San Francisco... a very busy three street intersection... the driver said it seemed safer and more efficient with the light out because people looked around instead of trusting the light, they kept moving slowly through the intersection letting cars flow through from each side simultaneously. I'd love to see some engineering studies. Even such chaos as cars lining up on both sides against each other at a railroad crossing seems to clear out relatively quickly compared to queuing as we do in the west, even though it rattles and boggles the western mind....
india driving: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEQaG5jPM&feature=related
Excellent view of typical scenes complete with live sound effects!
india traffic 2006: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAM_zOolyK0&feature=related
india traffic scenes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1dlTcxukvI&feature=related
Video from a taxi cab:
more india traffice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I9ETTL2mHo&feature=related
And what could be more complete than sounds and views from bus ride and hair-raising cliff hangers:
himalayan bus ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQK0_Kg1mBM
bus ride in shimla: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMz_lUN2pCo
honking bus rid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcx8O6WTQu0
This video on dabawallahs gives some idea of the amazing difference in culture and ways of life there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3nHLhaevWc&NR=1
It's hard to explain the difference in the world. I drove from Upstate NY to Delaware a couple of days ago and pondered at the difference in the experience. In India, there are most always people except in some of the highest mountains. In the USA, the freeways seem distanced from people and the landscape. In India, you feel you drive through the middle of a milieu. There are always people outside. In the US, people seem to be hermetically sealed in their houses... or perhaps they are away at the Mall. In the USA, you are lucky to see a pedestrian or bicycle outside of a city. In India, the road carries all sorts of travelers: pedestrians, bicyclists, ox carts, pony carts, bicycle rickshaws, porters, trucks, buses, and assorted livestock.
I often thing we ought to introduce Holy Cows into the USA for traffic calming, milk, visual entertainment. They ad a reminder that we are interdependent on nature, they slow us down, they help keep us present... especially when we drift off and don't pay attention and step in a pile of dung! It brings your right back to the present!
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