I think I have been in Delhi too long when most things I see on the street no longer warrant as much as a second glance. A guy using a coke bottle as a jack to change his tire barely solicits a WTF these days. Yesterday, though, was one such rare day when I witness Indians behaving like Indians and had to stop and stare.
My wife and I were returning from the club around 7:00pm and were sitting at an intersection when my driver squealed like a schoolgirl at a Justin Bieber concert. Glancing to the adjacent corner, I caught the last few tumbles of a woman and a large SUV screeching stop. Yep, you guess it - Latika got tagged!
The reason this is so shocking is not that the poor woman got hit, but that it took almost a year to witness this event. You see, in Delhi, people will step out into traffic on a major highway without a second thought to their safety. On every road and byway in Delhi, there is someone sauntering across the road. They are not, though, without protection, as they will hold up their hand in the stop position like a crossing guard to halt to the two-ton truck barreling down on them at 40 MPH. Amazingly, for the most part, it works – breaks lock up, tires squeal and traffic snakes around the offending individual. But every so often…
In this case, the woman had darted out from behind another SUV into the turning-lane while the turning-lane light was green. Apparently, there was no time to create the magic force field by putting her hand in the “stop” position as she, nor the on-coming jeep could see each other. As she tumbled head over ass, I wonder if she was thinking, “Damn, if I only could have gotten my hand up.”
Anywhere else, the actual hit would have been the story, but in Delhi, the hit is only the beginning. After our victim stopped rolling, hoards of people climbed out of their vehicles and surrounded the woman. Several men propped her up on her knees (apparently having never received the medical merit badge) and held her upright, while others conversed and chatted about the event. No one, though, bothered to call an ambulance or truly see if she was OK. It was more of an act of participation than an act of mercy.
Eventually, the driver emerged from his car with his cell phone in his ear. He had most likely called his wife to tell her he would be late. He meandered around to the front and the crowd began to “engage” him. We drove off at this point.
In speaking with some people in the office the next day about the incident, they filled me on the typical chain of events when you hit someone in India. Firstly, the police are not coming, so the crowd becomes judge, jury and executioner. Secondly, since nobody gives ambulances the right of way in Delhi, ambulance service is timed not by a watch, but by a calendar. No use calling. So with that, it is the sole responsibility of the driver that hit the woman to drive her to the hospital and hope for the best. The crowd ensures these steps are followed.
In the end, it almost always will be the driver’s fault, as he owns a car and is clearly the party that can pay. He will pay the police threatening to file the report, the women’s doctor bill and, if it gets far enough, the judge. The fact that the woman walked out into rush hour traffic will not even be discussed.
Outside of a lifetime as a cripple or, worst case, losing your life, I guess there really is no downside to walking into traffic in Delhi!
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