Hyderabad's Driving (Me) Nuts

There are a lot of nuts on the road in Hyderabad. I speak not of the variety that grows underground or on trees. I am talking about the two legged variety that chooses to cross, criss cross, scoot, jaywalk, weave and perform myriad geometrical movements on Hyderabadi roads.

Now wait a minute, I have nothing much to complain about Hyderabad roads. Or the traffic for that matter. Considering the kinda traffic I used to encounter back in Amchi Mumbai, I can easily drive here with my eyes shut. And considering the road sense that the average Hyderabadi motorist/scooterist/cyclist/bikist/walkist displays, driving with my eyes shut seems to be a very attractive proposition indeed.

Don't get me wrong. I come from a land (Mumbai) where traffic can be amazingly bad. BEST drivers in Mumbai love to own the road while running smaller vehicles off the roads, and the TATA Indica call centre/BPO drivers drive like madmen to complete as many trips as they can (number of trips being directly proportional to payment). But at least there's a method in the madness. In Mumbai, you know that you don't wanna argue with a BEST bus and when you see one of the white Indicas (with yellow plates) approaching, you try and let them pass. Same's applicable for the Sumos (wonder if it's got something to do with TATA's cars?!)

In Hyderabad, however no such logic applies. No Sirreee! It's been barely a month since I got here and about 10 days since I got the car, and though the 15 minute drive allows me to listen to barely 4 songs on the iPod/XPLOD combo, it gives me at least 10 opportunities to worry about getting the paint scraped off my new shiney Hyundai Santro.

My next post will outline the details about the (absolute lack of) road sense in Hyderabad. Meanwhile, I will try to believe in the conspiracy theory that it's got something to do with my previous post that looked at Hyderabadi biryani in a not-so-benevolent manner.

Back In Hyderabad

Just got back home after dropping Arya at the airport. Had an amazing drive from Mumbai to Hyderabad. We left Mumbai at 7 am on Saturday (June 30th) and got here at 2 pm on Sunday. We had a long halt at Sholapur for the night. We were lucky to reach Pune before they closed the expressway because of torrential rains.

More updates and a detailed trip log in the next.

For now, it's good night, n God bless!