When I first came to USA, the roadways is one sure thing that got my attention initially. The orderly highways, lane discipline, exit/entry ramps, intuitive signals etc. Once you start driving in US roads, after the initial excitement, driving becomes pretty much a no-brain-involved act. Sometimes boring to the extent that no mind is involved either which is very scary for me these days particularly after marriage and having a kid.
After driving in America for a few years, when I look at Indian Roads, the way the traffic flows, I get a whole new perspective and excitement. And for pete's sake, this time around I am not even driving - just sitting inside an auto-rickshaw or a taxi. Never before have I felt this excitement, not even when driving my Honda motorcycle during my early twenties - cruising at full throttle in mid sun without helmet in the slippery inner ring road of Bangalore connecting Koramangla and Indira Nagar.
This time around we made a trip to Tirupathi in a rented cab. The driver who accompanied us actually took us on a roller coaster - literally cruising at 90kmph on Chennai Road, deftly maneuvering all the small gaps, overtaking vehicles in night on a single lane road with only enough gap to get through before the oncoming traffic gets to us. We are still alive but that was one heck of a ride. My son, used to his comfortable seat and view in my Honda back in US, was literally speechless the whole trip.
I had my D40 so decided to capture the excitement we felt and test my camera at the same time. Attached pic shows lot of stuff - our cab trying to overtake the yellow trucker in front of us on a one way road. The driver while edging past the truck, noticing an oncoming bus. For a split second, we were literally in the dead center between them with only just a few feet separating us from the oncoming bus. And while I was trying my best to get my balance and snap the pic at the same time, you can see our driver chatting with us with both hands off the wheel in this instant. The rear view mirror shows his eyes fixed on the road fortunately. Not a great photo from a technique point of view but tells a lot of story.
After driving in America for a few years, when I look at Indian Roads, the way the traffic flows, I get a whole new perspective and excitement. And for pete's sake, this time around I am not even driving - just sitting inside an auto-rickshaw or a taxi. Never before have I felt this excitement, not even when driving my Honda motorcycle during my early twenties - cruising at full throttle in mid sun without helmet in the slippery inner ring road of Bangalore connecting Koramangla and Indira Nagar.
This time around we made a trip to Tirupathi in a rented cab. The driver who accompanied us actually took us on a roller coaster - literally cruising at 90kmph on Chennai Road, deftly maneuvering all the small gaps, overtaking vehicles in night on a single lane road with only enough gap to get through before the oncoming traffic gets to us. We are still alive but that was one heck of a ride. My son, used to his comfortable seat and view in my Honda back in US, was literally speechless the whole trip.
I had my D40 so decided to capture the excitement we felt and test my camera at the same time. Attached pic shows lot of stuff - our cab trying to overtake the yellow trucker in front of us on a one way road. The driver while edging past the truck, noticing an oncoming bus. For a split second, we were literally in the dead center between them with only just a few feet separating us from the oncoming bus. And while I was trying my best to get my balance and snap the pic at the same time, you can see our driver chatting with us with both hands off the wheel in this instant. The rear view mirror shows his eyes fixed on the road fortunately. Not a great photo from a technique point of view but tells a lot of story.
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