[narayans80]

You will have this cultural shock in many different places, not specific to big cities alone. Some of which you will get used to on driving regularly and stop to notice.

I do drive near Aurangabad 1-2 times a year, so can give you some relatable examples:

• Driving on Airport Road-Zalta vs Driving towards Verul. You can see all sorts of edgy moves on the latter compared to former.
• Driving Aurangabad-Solapur vs Dhule-Songir. If you drive these 2 on the same day (I've had the opportunity twice), the difference is day and night.
• Driving in Solapur vs Aurangabad. The former is a hair raising experience every time I drive and I had no trouble driving through Aurangabad or Nagpur. I can tell driving in Solapur raises your BP more than Pune.

You can spot these sort of trends everywhere. Some are easier to adjust, others are not. I can deal with Hassan's laid back traffic or aggressive driving in NICE, Madras or NE1, but not chaotic Madurai core city traffic (I've seen it year-on-year through my schooldays).

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by narayans80

but not chaotic Madurai core city traffic (I've seen it year-on-year through my schooldays).

Don't remind me of that.

Last year had to do make official purchases in Madurai. It was only a few weeks since I started driving the office car ('19 Octavia). Got into the core Madurai city and entered those bylanes. Lucky I didn't get a scracth or bump. About a minute into the city core traffic, the sensors just gave up and stopped beeping.

[The Falconist]

I found the reverse, big city to smaller city shift, equally unnerving. Thanks to COVID striking parents living in my southern Odisha hometown, I shifted base for about three months from B'luru. I have learnt both riding and driving on B'luru roads; so all my ride/drive sensors are tuned accordingly.

All these years, 16 of them to be precise, I hadn't felt the need to use a bike or a car back home while visiting on holidays. It is a smallish town, though densely populated, and I could do most of my business there on foot or in the rare instance booking an auto. But the health situation at home warranted a vehicle to be around for quick dashes to doctor/pharmacies/diagnostics. So without much deliberation, one day I just walked up to the nearest TVS showroom and bought myself an Apache 4V. TVS because it was the nearest; I would have walked up to a Bajaj/Honda/Yamaha had that been the closest instead. The vehicle was ready to be taken home the next day morning. I rolled the bike out the rather steep ramp straight onto what is one of the busiest roads of the town and then reality struck!!

I am used to BMTC buses behaving like maniacs, TT drivers mistaking 'Luru roads for the Buddh F1 circuit, rowdy bikers zooming around at frightening velocity but the actors on a well known road in my hometown caused me to rethink if I should ride at all!

- The first shocker was the absolute lack of lane discipline. I am inured to people cutting lanes but when a massive lorry hurtles at you from the wrong side, a different kind of panic sets in.
- Cyclists should get priority; I am conflicted as to how to deal with the ones that stop in the middle of the road to attend phone calls.
- Cargo carrying flat bed rickshaws can be deceptive with their chaos causing potential.
- Bullock carts are still a thing and traffic signals mean nothing to them.

In any case, the short 1.3KM ride from the showroom to home was a revelation of sorts. Back home, a profusely sweating and visibly shaken moi was justly chastised for buying a bike when a perfectly functional Activa was in the garage. I refused to confess that my confidence level on scooters is nonexistent and parried the swipes with arguments pertaining to the better stability of a geared vehicle, ABS etc. The next few days were nerve-wracking as errands took me to much narrower and chaotic bylanes of the town. It took a good few weeks for me to get to the road without a perceptible rise in the palpitations. I will probably be never as comfortable riding/driving in my hometown as in BLR regardless of acclimatization.

The silver lining of this experience is that I am a lot less irritable while riding/driving in 'Luru!

[pareekvirendra]

Hello Everyone,

I want to thank everyone who have given their valuable opinion and insights on my predicament. The viewpoints expressed by each one of you have given me a deeper insight about what happened to me on that trip.

I guess I particularly agree with SS traveller who mentioned that I am a slow and overtly careful driver. Perhaps this fact was exacerbated by the fact that I had my 3 months old daughter in the back with me and hence I was trying to be extra careful.

Upon reading these posts I also realise that there is one simple remedy for what I faced, to drive more and to drive more often.

I had faced a similar issue just after the covid lockdowns ended. My office is just 2.5 kms from my home, so for the entire lockdown I hardly used my car, except to ensure that the tyres didn't remain in one place and that the battery didn't drain out. So when after about 18 months of almost no driving I had to go to Ahmednagar for a office related visit and my throat suddenly went dry at the thought of it. I thought of various options like hiring a CAB, or taking along a driver. In the end I managed to suck it up and drive myself. After a few kilometers, I was so embarrassed that I had thought of going by a CAB or hiring a driver. Soon, everything was well and I was enjoying it and remembered what I loved about the drives.

I guess something similar will happen to my Pune Drives as well as I get more and more of them.

I guess writers have a writers block and I had a drivers block, if such a thing even exists.

However, on my next drive to Pune, I will remember the kind and insightful words of everyone here and I am sure it is going to be an amazing drive.

In fact, I have now even planned a drive to Rajasthan in January. I will be sure to post a travelogue of the trip here.

Cheers to everyone and thanks again.

[Amrik Singh]

Returning to Delhi after long time outside India, I let my body taken over by the Devil and be a Zombie while driving on roads. Just like a possessed body, I let the demon inside me handle the Car. I know that if I try to drive by rules myself as is in most of the developed countries, I would be left stranded on the road and be started by other drivers.
As the idiom goes, 'When in Rome, do as the Roman's do', I just drive the way Delhites drive.

[shailendrakr]

Originally Posted by pareekvirendra

What is this feeling called, where you go to a big city and are suddenly gripped by panic? I have driven across several highways and several cities and never faced this before (I usually go to Rajasthan through MP or Gujarat by car)
Is this usual? Or do I need to do something about it?

Take it easy I lived all my life in India, then moved to the western world for 2 years. When I got back I was scared to cross the road in my hometown.
You will get over the fear with time.

[amitayu]

Every city has its own driving dynamics. I fully agree to the opinion shared earlier by a contributor.

I often drive in Kolkata and Delhi, and there is a distinct difference in traffic behaviours despite both being heavily congested cities during office hours.
Mumbai on the other hand has much better public discipline during crowded office hours.

My wife insists I become a completely different person behind the wheels in Delhi (my present home), and that I am extra sweet in Kolkata given it is my home town.
She argues in Kolkata I let some cars pass by which I wouldn't in Delhi, especially from the left!

But the truth is the traffic dynamics are so different, with narrowing stretches in Kolkata forcing you to give way to traffic from the left side, or else the entire traffic flow would choke up.

Red light ethics too are different in both cities. In Delhi, you take a position where you can make a dash when the lights go green. In Kolkata, you line up at the signal to squeeze into the space ahead when the lights go green, as there is no scope of a dash given the roads.

These small differences add to the charm of driving for me!! it is almost like i flip a switch in my brain when i shift cities.

[mtripathi13]

Originally Posted by amitayu

I often drive in Kolkata and Delhi, and there is a distinct difference in traffic behaviours despite both being heavily congested cities during office hours.

+1 to above. The most striking difference between Delhi and Kolkata is the road width. Driving etiquettes are vastly different too.