Ahmedabad - Day 2 (Ahmedabad Traffic)

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February 3rd 2012

Published: February 11th 2012

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Drummer Bill

Bicycle Cart

The bicycle peddler is a bit amazed by a Westerner in the rickshaw beside him

We woke up at Ilaben's about 9:00 to the smell of fresh chai and a hot Gujarati breakfast. We had slept nearly 15 hours. I guess the flights and jet lag had taken their toll on us. After a good night's sleep and wonderful breakfast we were ready for the day.

About 10:00 AM Sara, AWAG's managing director, arrived to take us to the textile production facility where we would train ten women how to make quilts. Sara's driver was a quiet middle aged man with a warm smile. He was an excellent driver. Thank Goodness! I had forgotten how insane driving in India is, and Ahmedabad's traffic now included many more drivers than 1994.

Ahmedabad Traffic

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The traffic is heavy with everything from pedestrians, camels, scooters, cows, cars, donkeys, bicycles, trucks, goats, rickshaws, all negotiating for limited road space with no traffic lights (obeyed) or stop signs. It is a writhing waltz of conveyances accompanied by an orchestra of tooting horns, zazzing buzzers and jingling bells set to the rhythm of sputtering scooters and rickshaw motors. There are multiple conductors with hands jutting from rickshaws, small nods, and baton waving by the occasional policeman. The

Rickshaws

Rickshaws are small (lawn mower sized) Compressed Natural Gas CNG powered three-wheeled buggies with canvas tops. They easily accomodate two fares. Three can squeeze in. Sometimes as many as 10 school kids cram into and onto one.

unwritten score is known by everyone; even unacompanied three-year olds playing just inches from the mayhem. The only hard-fast rule is you NEVER hit anyone or anything in front of you.

Somehow the process of negotiating one's way around Ahmedabad is a short abstract on India as a whole ... massive numbers of beings, gentle for the most part, but insistant on moving in the direction of their choice. India's resiliance has a way of slowly overcoming all obstacles. After 300 plus years of rule I think India changed the British as much as the British changed India. The same thing happend to me when I first visited India in 1991. My Western mindset of organization, efficiency, quick results necessarily gave way to the life force here. One either adapts and laughs at the absurd and improbable, or leaves or stews in frustration. India goes on whichever one chooses.

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Bill Magargal

Drummer Bill

We live in a small community in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Marie, my wife, and I have traveled extensively in India, Asia, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand; plus a few European and Middle Eastern countries. Get your own Visited Countries Map... full info

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11th February 2012

Kalika
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Ahmedabad Traffic
Enjoyed that slice of your Ahmedabad trip, and of course the traffic is awesome. Interestingly, I didn't see any women driving scooters, whereas in Trivandrum they were half the drivers.

Tot: 0.078s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0457s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb

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Ahmedabad - Day 2 (Ahmedabad Traffic)

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