The Streets of India

The main road in Hyderabad

(Zara) Rickshaws, camel carts, tractors, a few beat up cars, and hundreds of motorcycles buzz through the streets. A sea of people walk through the dirty, trash filled roads with ladies in black burkas covering their entire bodies except their eyes peering out into the hazy polluted air. It’s hotter than 97 degrees and everyone is wearing pants and long sleeve shirts. The roads are usually very bumpy and a lot of them are not paved making drives take even longer then they should. In some of the cities and towns we have been to, stray dogs, pigs, and cows roam the streets freely. The funniest thing I have learned is why cows sit in the middle of the road in the midst of all the traffic. It is to keep the flies from bothering them! With all the cars whizzing by, the flies stay away from the cows and that’s why so many cows are spotted taking a nap in the middle of the road!

It is on these streets that people buy everything they need in their daily lives because they don’t have grocery stores or malls. Within the thousands of markets a single street could have one hundred shops selling only saris, the local women’s dress and adjacent to it could be only metal work, shoes, bangle bracelets (extremely popular in India), wedding outfits, or candy shops. Most importantly, fruit stands on the street are where everyone buys their oranges, apples, bananas, grapes, and watermelons. Once you have your basic food and clothing needs covered, you could even stop for a shave and a haircut.

Dollar Shave Club India

My uncle Kevin was visiting recently and he and my dad wanted to conduct some personal grooming research. All lined up next to each other were five open tin shacks containing a single person barbershop with only a chair, mirror, and some essential hair supplies. They both sat down in separate shops and asked for a shave and haircut. First they got haircuts and when they were done my dad looked the same but Uncle Kevin had a whole new hairdo. It wasn’t that bad but definitely Indian style! Next they got a shave with these giant blades and for the finishing touch they even got a head massage. All of these services cost a whole two dollars and fifty cents.

“Horn Please”

In the U.S. people drive on the right side of the road, in the UK people drive on the left side of the road, in India people drive which ever side is more convenient. If the horn did not exist, India would not be able to function because all people do is honk so they can pass each other on busy roads or make their way through a busy intersection. Since there aren’t many traffic lights here everyone tries to go at once and if there are it is ignored completely. So far in our Indian street experiences we have surprisingly only seen one major car accident where a jeep hit a truck, spinning the truck so that it lay across the entire street and totaling the jeep. The truck didn’t block us from going the opposite direction however, we just went on the other side of the road and drove against the traffic. As we followed the ambulance it hit a big bump and the doors swung wide open and a purse fell out, (thankfully not the patient)! We had to stop and pick it up before it got run over by another car. A man who was following the ambulance pulled up next to us and said he would take it to her. As you can see the streets of India surely can been crazy and entertaining but there is no way you would ever see me driving here!