006_privilege

[Bangalore] There is no airport lounge at the Bangalore airport. This is as exclusive as you can get when you fly business class and above, you will be given a coupon for free coffee at a kiosk in the terminal building. Cool.

005_darkness 02

This is a shot from a local department store. No, they were not having someone’s surprise birthday party but a power trip. It happens so often that it becomes part of people’s everyday life. There was no panic, no screaming, and not even a single kid cried! You can hardly avoid this. Even in a five-star hotel, you get it, too.

004_darkness 01

Driving in India is difficult but driving in India at night is even more difficult because in most places there are no streetlights. I mean, there are street lamps along the way but they are just not turned on. Drivers rely only on their own (and others’) headlights trying to make their way avoiding each other and, once in a while, people (whose skin colour blends really well with the nightscape) attempting to cross the road.

003_double protection

[Bangalore] Now, if I say that blowing horn has an effect on architecture, would you believe me? This picture was taken from a hotel situated along a busy (and noisy) road. A set of double doors is needed for every guestroom otherwise it is just impossible to sleep before midnight.

002_informative truck

I found there was too much information provided on local buses and trucks. They would write down anything they could think of on the back of their vehicles. The most two common phrases found are “use dipper at night” and “blow horn” (or “horn please” in the other version). People here love to blow their horn. Even if the car looks so old and many things are malfunction but you can rest assure that the horn will be working properly. It is part of road culture here. Street in India is one of a few urbanscapes that you can recognize by its audio effect.

001_mirror mirror

I’d lived in Bangkok for longer than 20 years and I thought that our traffic was really bad and no other countries would beat us. (see 001_thick flow at http://urbanomania-th.blogspot.com) But when I first visited Delhi, my worldview changed... Yes, of course, before that I had heard a lot about traffic in India, about the heavy jam and something weird like a herd of cows sharing the same road with you, etc. But do you know that, in India, they can squeeze 6 or even 7 rows of car into a 4-lane street? It’s amazing to see how local people manage their way through the mess without bumping into each other. In such density, it’s safer to drive with side mirrors folded in. Don’t be surprised or trying to be nice adjusting it back for your local driver. The guy won’t be happy, trust me.