As you may, or may not know, in India everyone drives on the left hand side of the road. Not a major adjustment for us where Ghouse is taking care of the driving; with the exception of trying to get in on his side of the car all the time.
What I have discovered, though, is that staying to the left is not just a rule for the road...it's a rule for the pedestrian. Now don't get me wrong, the pedestrian's out walking the streets adhere to no such rule, actually they adhere to no rules in general; they seem to simply walk in the direction of their desired destination and use their extended arms as barriers to the oncoming traffic that is hopefully slowing down enough to let them by. On that note, extended arms seem to be a respected form of communication on the roads in India. Whether it be the passenger on a motorcycle extending their arms as a warning to neighbouring motorcycles, rickshaws and cars that they are coming through or the half-dozen police men extending their arms outside the back of their open police truck in place of a siren as the signal for "make way, let us through"; extended arms are a powerful means of on-the-road communication.
There I go again, getting sidetracked. Back to where I left off; staying to the left is a rule for the pedestrian, particularly the pedestrian walking inside. In my case, a rule I need to learn for walking inside the office. It seems, without fail, that every time I get up from my desk to walk somewhere I end up having a stand-off with someone coming towards me. I have discovered that I tend to walk to the right, understandably given that I've spent all of my life walking and driving to the right, however the people I'm facing off in the hallways and corridors spend their lives staying to the left. So there we stand, in that awkward moment where both parties try to rectify the situation by going in the other direction simultaneously which only creates the same issue but in reverse. I'm sure it's only a couple seconds but it always feels like an eternal stand-off in the moment, and then we're off on our way. This issue would easily be resolved if I would stay to the left when I'm out and about but it's a hard switch to flick in your mind. I will continue working on it.
What I have discovered, though, is that staying to the left is not just a rule for the road...it's a rule for the pedestrian. Now don't get me wrong, the pedestrian's out walking the streets adhere to no such rule, actually they adhere to no rules in general; they seem to simply walk in the direction of their desired destination and use their extended arms as barriers to the oncoming traffic that is hopefully slowing down enough to let them by. On that note, extended arms seem to be a respected form of communication on the roads in India. Whether it be the passenger on a motorcycle extending their arms as a warning to neighbouring motorcycles, rickshaws and cars that they are coming through or the half-dozen police men extending their arms outside the back of their open police truck in place of a siren as the signal for "make way, let us through"; extended arms are a powerful means of on-the-road communication.
There I go again, getting sidetracked. Back to where I left off; staying to the left is a rule for the pedestrian, particularly the pedestrian walking inside. In my case, a rule I need to learn for walking inside the office. It seems, without fail, that every time I get up from my desk to walk somewhere I end up having a stand-off with someone coming towards me. I have discovered that I tend to walk to the right, understandably given that I've spent all of my life walking and driving to the right, however the people I'm facing off in the hallways and corridors spend their lives staying to the left. So there we stand, in that awkward moment where both parties try to rectify the situation by going in the other direction simultaneously which only creates the same issue but in reverse. I'm sure it's only a couple seconds but it always feels like an eternal stand-off in the moment, and then we're off on our way. This issue would easily be resolved if I would stay to the left when I'm out and about but it's a hard switch to flick in your mind. I will continue working on it.
No comments:
Post a Comment