Driving in India

OMG! I thought California drivers were unbelievable. But, I've never seen anything quite like the traffic in India. They have the lines painted on the paved roads, but I have no idea why - since nobody pays any attention to them. India is filled wth people driving motor scooters.  We didn't see a single motorcyle, but the scooters were everywhere.  Then, there's these little 3-wheel vehicles, some are little trucks and some are little taxi's, but both are called "AUTOS".  Next, they have buses with no windows. And finally, trucks and cars.  Occassionally, there's an ox-driven cart or a bicycle with something hitched to the back of it.  Sometimes, there would be 3-4 people riding the same little scooter and the women road sideways most of the time.

All the vehicles converge on top of each other in all different directions and they climb right up on the back-end of what's in front of them with no fear whatsoever. I found it best sometimes not to look.  When we were driving on the "freeway" leaving Chennai, we sould be going about 60-65 mph and a big truck would pull out on the road right in front of us.  The driver would just lay on his horn and swerve around them They use the horns a lot over here.  Of course - there's also the animals.  Cows, goats and dogs are seen roaming the side of the road just about anywhere.  I don't know how they handle traffic school over here, but even with lessons - I'm not sure I would'nt have the nerve the drive as fearless as they do.

On our drive from Chennai to Ramiah's village, Karaikudi - we had freeway most of the way, but as we got close to the village, the streets became more and more narrow with more and more scooters and bicycles. And chickens in the road now.  We arrived at a structure used by Indian families when they all come together.  There are rooms along the side of the building for each family with a big open area in the middle for visting and eating together.  This will be where the reception for the wedding is held tomorrow.  Ramiah's family was unbelievable.  They opened their hearts to us and we could sense that they were truly happy we had come.

This is Ramiah's family. Ramiah is the one on the right. The young man in the back wearing the red shirt is his brother - Mutuh (from New Jersey) and in front of him is their grandparents.  The couple on the left is their mother and father.  And the young man in front is Mutuh's son.  We have to be up at 6am tomorrow to be at the wedding which starts at 7:30am. The event will be an all day affair.  These are some of the gifts to the bride that were from Ramiah's mother - yes - all of it, from his mom!!

Goodnight for tonight - more to follow...