“Taxis Are Not Sufficient”

The title of the post is a literal translation of the sign posted to the front of the pre-paid taxi stand at the airport in Kolkata. Really, pre-paid is the way to go, it seems.

At noon, I was already vaguely settled into my hotel room in, after discovering – to my intense joy – that traffic in Kolkata isn’t wildly different from traffic in Mumbai.  Not as suicidally risky as the drivers in Cairo, I still found myself sending up a quick prayer every few minutes.  Most notably was when my driver squeezed his ancient rattletrap of a taxi through the space left between two other vehicles – ON A TWO LANE ROAD.

As the car wheezed and coughed, violently shuddering to a halt at infrequent stoplights and groaning to a passable 50k/hr again when they turned green, all drivers sought valiantly to claim sovereignty over the (apparently) much-coveted center of the road.

Pedestrians beware, because I’m positive that on at least one occasion my driver actively swerved to aim at some hapless man attempting to cross the road. 

Thankfully, I arrived in one piece.  Actually, I’m completely  not surprised.  After the drama it took getting me here, there’s no way I’d be allowed to die yet.  I have not yet suffered enough!

Must venture out to find: shampoo, a metal cup, a calling card and a salwar kameez.  That last one is a maybe.

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