To drive in India...

You driving? Here!? is the common “shocking” question that I got when I decided to drive in New Delhi. And my answer or rather a question was: Why Not?

After all it is a car and I had work to do. The service provider failed to provide a substitute when my driver Raj had to go back to Kerala for a family emergency.

The service providers here can be a pain at such times.

By train its three days to reach the Southern State, which means I would be without driver for more then a week as traveling alone would take six days, exactly when Eid Mubarak celebration was taking place, which means work that I can’t avoid.

Besides, how could I miss the ketupat and lemang? No way.

So, that was exactly when I told myself, I got to do this. No harm trying and how difficult would it be to drive a car? It is not a totally new experience for me given that I drove when I was back in Malaysia.

The reality was not so difficult. In fact, I didn’t find driving in New Delhi any different from Malaysia.

It is just that was one got to be more vigilant as homeless kids could just jump in front of your car, drivers that often beat the traffic (which is also common in Malaysia) and the worse is finding a car or lorry driving on the wrong lane, right opposite you.

But, if you’re focus, careful and maintain a safe speed. You’re on a safe side.

So, in life sometimes you just got to take the chances. Create your own path and make a difference. It felt good to do something that majority of foreigners are afraid to do.

And the best part is, no one would stare at you if you accidentally HONK!

By Saraswathi Muniappan

Bernama New Delhi