Coalscent, Swarming and Bangalore Traffic
I am traveling again and this time while on the flight I started reading "Coalescent" by Stephen Baxter. In Chapter one page 3 he mentions the following about Italian traffic:
"The narrow cobbled streets are always crowded with traffic, with cars and buses, lorries and darting scooters. Italians don't drive as norther Europeans do. They just go for it: they swarm, as Peter McLachlan would have said, a mass of individuals relying on the unwritten rules of the mob to get them through."
This brought a smile to my lips. Haha wait till you see Bangalore or Chennai traffic: cars, buses, lorries, scooters, motorcycles, bicycles, push carts, cycle carts, occasional tractors, bullocks and people walking and last but not the least the indefatigable Autorickshaw. Essentially moving objects of every shape, size, description and velocity massing on the street in typical Brownian Motion!
And this is what I navigate every day as I go from home to office and back. It is like an obstacle course video game, except that you play it in real life. Scary ? Well you kinda get used to it.