The Rules of the Road

Actually this has absalutely nothing to do with motorcycles, in fact its rather pedestrian (Sorry!)

A couple of days ago I was strolling down the main street of Kassol, old Kassol to be exact, that is the first 150 meters of street which have run down little guesthouses, restaurants, internet cafes and tourist shops, which differs very little from new Kassol which is the second 150 meters which has little guesthouses, restaurants, internet cafes and tourist shops. I was strolling along minding my own business and thinking happy, happy thoughts when suddenly my attention was drawn to shouting ahead of me.

I looked up from my deep contemplation of the road in front of my feet to see a jeep coming towards me with a guy running behind shouting to the driver to stop, which he didn't. I thought he was running after a taxi which he had ordered but which had somehow gone past and he was trying to catch its attention when my eye also caught a young lady lying on the ground a 50 meters in front of me. Of course my mind slowly made the connection and I foolishly stepped into the middle of the road and blocked his way.

Fortunately he must have decided that 2 (he had actually hit two girls but one had only been grazed) victims was enough for one day and pulled to a stop just in front of me. I stood there until the boy who had been shouting trotted up and started shouting at the driver.

And then I heard the sentence which I will always cherish - "BUT I HORNED THREE TIMES". Thats it, apparently in India if you toot the horn 3 times that is sufficient. If some pedestrian is so stupid (or perhaps just "hearing impaired") as tp not get out of the way they are fair game.

All the rest pails behind that sentence, the fact that the girls were right off the road is irrelavent, the fact that he hit one and then the other (fortunately all occured at low speed) is irrelavent, the fact that he didn't even stop is irrelavent - HE HORNED THREE TIMES - 007 - License To Kill.

You can't not love this country.

Of course there was great indignation on the part of several Israelis who were witness to the excitement or arrived soon after - lynch the bastard, smash his car, call the police. This is India guys! You're not Indian you're to blame! It doesn't matter that you were walking and he was driving, you're a forigner, your'e rich, you pay. Thats how it works, you cant fight city hall. And everybody is carrying a generous supply of garras. You don't want the police anywhere near you idiots.

And with those thoughts in mind I quickly melted away.

The best part is that the driver of the jeep was quite certain that he had done nothing wrong. He couldn't understand why the people around were getting so indignant. I stared at his almost blank face for a while before melting and all I could see was astonishment that anyone should have any kind of beef with him, after all, he had horned three times.

Walk carefully my friends.