JC in India

So, let’s talk about driving….

It’s fair to say that when people think of India, one of the things that comes to mind is the state of the nation’s roads, and the way people drive over here. The reputation for this in India is widely known, and in most cases entirely merited!

While I am aware of some ‘Expats’ who drive themselves, it’s more usual for people like me to hire a driver and a car, and leave it to the locals. While the cost of manpower and living overall is much cheaper here in India, that isn’t true for all things. The hire of a driver is actually relatively cheap for what you get, and in UK terms is probably somewhere in the £200-£250 a month ball park. But the catch is that cost is for the hire of the driver. The driver of course needs a car… Leasing or buying one is broadly similar to costs you’d expect in the UK (well, for a car of any quality anyway…). So stacking it all up a car and a driver can actually be quite costly.

While there is obviously great convenience in having your own driven car available at pretty much all hours, the amount of use I would personally get is relatively limited. A trip to and from the office each day, and maybe a swing out to the shops or some other location a couple of times a week may be about it. 

There is a real value in quality though of course. Often the Ubers / taxis etc are not exactly top notch, and the quality of the driving can also be erratic to say the least. One thing that can be said for having your own car and driver is the reliance on knowing what you’re going to get, plus having someone waiting for you on arriving back at the airport off a flight is also very appealing.

So there are various schools of thought, and for some having a car and a driver is very much worthwhile and desired, and believe me this last month there’s been a few times I’d wished for one myself. But, I’ve elected (at least in the first instance) to recruit a driver called “Uber”… 

This is certainly a much cheaper way of managing transport here. My journey to the office is around a 20 minute / 10K drive and usually costs anything between £1.50 and £2.50 each way. 

That relatively cheap way of commuting does come with a hidden cost in the form of risk though. So far I’ve taken 20 trips since I arrived here last month, going back and forwards to the office with Uber each time.

Of these trips I think I have had a seatbelt to use twice. I’ve upgraded my Uber selection from “Uber Go” to “Uber Sedan” (usually about 20p more in cost), and while the car is often ‘better’, the lack of seatbelts still seems to be the norm. I once tried “Uber Premium” for a – push the boat out – extra 50p or so, just to see what the difference would be, and let’s just say it was marginal. Seatbelt? No.

Normally they’ve been very reliable though, and they are (usually) plentiful so waiting for one for a long time is rare. Today was an exception with the driver this morning calling me to see where I was going (they cannot see that when they accept the call, so quite often call to ask), and then tried to quote me a higher cash fare. So his trip got cancelled. Then this evening I had my pick up from the office cancelled by three different drivers before one actually did turn up, thirty minutes after I’d originally clicked for one. So it’s not always reliable, and tonight I was certainly wishing I had my own car and driver. But it would take today’s experience to become the norm for me to upgrade to my own car/driver (although admittedly I’m not ruling it out 100%).

Oh, and I mustn’t forget to mention the quite frequent calls they make are often spoken in Hindi. While some drivers can speak English it is usually limited which causes a lot of garbled pigeon English style discussions. I had one chap call me back about 5 times once, in the hope that in the 30 seconds between each call I may have managed to learn to speak Hindi!

Any commentary on driving in India wouldn’t be complete without a few ‘interesting’ examples of experiences so far, so here’s a little list of things I’ve seen (that come quickly to mind):

• Driving the wrong way down a highway into oncoming traffic, because the exit on that opposite side was easier to get to from the “wrong” side
• Overtaking on blind corners with oncoming traffic just being expected to get out of the way
• Missing a turn off a highway, and stopping to reverse into the busy oncoming traffic to get back to the slip road
• Buses stopping in the ‘motorway’ traffic to let people off
• Bicycles also cycling in the ‘motorway’
• The usual complete disregard for lane markings…
• … and traffic lights. Although to be fair they are usually adhered to, just the queue to the red lights soon becomes a cluster, not a queue of waiting traffic
• Approaching a left turn exit off a highway from the far right lane, and at the last minute just veering across all the other traffic to take the exit
• And plenty more. If you can imagine it, chances are it’s happened!

But… In a bizarre, and chaotic computer game style of road adherence, the irony is it seems to work. 

Yes, cars are quite often carrying the scars of past transgressions, but people tend to get where they are going quickly and without much hold ups. I have wondered a few times whether if the volume of traffic that exists were driven in typically British fashion on the same roads, how the congestion and travel times would compare. I’d bet there would be more queues and take much longer. Ok, it would be less perilous of course…

But this style of driving isn’t going to change. It is what it is, and the best way to deal with it is to just let the local drivers get on with, and to sit back and ignore it. It’s a good time to check the emails on the phone and pretend it isn’t happening.

It’s just a part of life over here, and you’ve got to accept it. Living positively in India is best served with a healthy dose of ‘calm acceptance’. Getting stressed by the cultural differences is not a good way to live, and anyone in that mindset is unlikely to be happy here.

Personally I’m in the accept it and embrace it camp. And you know what? I’m actually quite enjoying it….

(Picture Disclaimer – not mine. Thanks google!)