Speaking of India

I recently received a link from a friend to a video about traffic in some city in India. This is amazing. I can't believe anyone didn't get killed. Also her daughter wrote an article about walking across one of these streets! It follows...

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Tailor
By Myca Vickers

At the outset of a short-term mission to India with YWAM where Myca and her team later had the opportunity to meet Pastor Guna, his wife Victoria, and the children of the Home of Hope, Myca writes…

After a long day of walking, the team stopped near the shopping end of things to pick up some tailored clothes ordered the previous day. We’re dropped off on the corner of a busy street in even busier night time traffic. In India, there doesn’t seem to be such things as traffic laws – no signaling, no stopping, though I’m sure there are some – like, small vehicles better get out of the way of the big ones.

The night is filled with bright headlights, ceaseless horns, four lanes that become seven – easy. And all of this is what lay between me and my newly tailored sari top. I take a quick breath and hold it in, hoping that any reflexes my clumsy body possesses would manifest themselves now. One step, two, a quick sprint, an abrupt stop. I dodge the rickshaw, let the bus pass, weave between the bicyclists and arrive at the median. Blocking out the blaring horns, I exhale and try to clear my head of the exhaust fumes and headlights. Taking my life and my punjabi tails in hand, I swerve, spin and parry myself to the other side – adrenaline full to bursting.

I hit the sidewalk at a dead run and try not to let the headlight shadows and my pounding heart send me reeling. Immediately, four or five street peddlers rush to me, trying to sell me plastic airplanes. Apparently, it looked as though I could use a few. I look wildly around, eyes wide and unblinking. Slowly, I turn my attention to the shops and realize, quite crestfallen, that I needn't have crossed the street at all. My shop was two doors down from the place I once stood.

Used with permission. © 2006 Myca Vickers, Do not copy or use without permission.