As British, when first experiencing Indian traffic, it’s a shock to the system. We have been on edge almost all the time, anticipating an imminent crash to happen in front of our eyes. We’re wondering ‘don’t they have any rules of the road?’ and ‘what are there road casualty figures like?’ (best not to check). Strangely after a few weeks, we have become more acclimatised to it – I mean it’s still terrifying, but it’s just a kind of the new normal! 

When we first attempted to cross the road in India, we stood at the edge of the road for ages waiting (sometimes for a long time) until what we considered a big enough gap in the traffic to appear, safe enough for us to cross. Now, two weeks in, I find myself stepping out into moving traffic, either confident or just plan crazy in the belief that nothing will hit me, even though it looks like they will. Fingers crossed, so far, I’m still alive!

In addition to taking a few death defying tuk tuk rides, we have also been in a few cabs. They are also rather scary as the drivers weave across lanes of moving traffic, undertake, drive in the wrong side of the road and hoot their horns as if it were going out of fashion. If watching the traffic chaos is too much, we can a) close our eyes or b) look up. I would recommend option b as there’s often a treat in store.

There seams to be a thing in Indian taxis that the ceilings of the cabs are covered in decorative patterns – such attention to detail on a surface that most people will never look at. Just think, out there somewhere there’s a textile designer whose job it is to prettify the ceilings of Indian cabs – what a job!