COMMUNICATION

Italy is supposed to be the noisiest country in Europe....but they don't do too badly here.  It starts early in the morning, when the carts of fruit and vegetables appear and the vendors start calling to attract attention, their voices echoing around the streets.  Their carts on 4 large tricycle wheels, move fast and they don't seem to oblige their customers by pausing.  The carts are ubiquitous in India - they function as platforms for selling merchandise and on many occasions, I have seen the 'proprietor' lying on his counter, fast asleep !   There is also the type with three wooden walls, parked on the side of the road, and the owner will be sitting inside, cross legged, reading or meditating - a little house on wheels, oblivious to the mayhem of traffic beyond.

Communication on the road is by hooting - a small hoot says that you are there, a longer hoot is a warning - 'don't try my patience' and a very loud hoot says, 'I'm passing you and don't argue about it'.  There is a never ending conversation of shrieks and grunts.  No wonder foreigners have cars and drivers and don't venture out on their own.

The other curious feature of the road culture is the protagonists - girls, as noted before, are covered entirely in swathes of scarfs to protect their skin from the sand and sun.  They even don long sleeved gloves for the same reason...but not to be outdone, men wear hankies round their face, tied in a triangle just below the eyes covering nose and mouth, they look for all the world like gangsters from a fifties movie, off to do a Bank job !

Of course there is a hierarchy - the bigger the vehicle, the more it can throw its weight around and do as it likes...at the bottom of this heap, are the pedestrians - they have no rights at all, not even at a zebra crossing.