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I recently got back from a working trip to India, and I must say, for someone who has not been to India before, it truly was an eye-opener. If you are used to the orderly and efficient system that is Singapore, it is most definitely a shock to the system once you've experienced Indian traffic. (For the record, I got the picture above from the Internet. I was too shell-shocked during my trip to take any photos of Indian traffic myself) For one, Indians never slow down. NEVER. They blast through intersections and zoom out of side roads without any care for other traffic. The prevailing attitude seems to be, "Others be damned, I'm going and that's that." Yet somehow, amazingly, nobody gets into an accident. It appears that they are all prepared for someone to appear from nowhere, and are ready for evasive action. (Although, having said that, the number of cars you see with damaged body panels indicate that there is a fair share of contact in Indian traffic). On the highways, lane discipline is non-existent. Every conceivable space on the road is occupied, and you'll find yourself squeezed between other cars, motorbikes, tuk tuks, buses and whatever forms of transport they use there. The gaps they leave you are incredibly fine. Nobody uses their wing mirrors either. They actually fold their mirrors in to avoid getting them knocked off. Talk about unnecessary. Horns and high beams are common usage items, and the rule seems to be bigger is boss. Which I supposed helped a bit in the 7-Series that we were in. Good luck to you though if you find yourself in a Tata Nano, or worse, one of those flimsy three-wheeled tuk tuks that serve as taxis in Delhi. And if you're a pedestrian trying to cross the road, you'd better have balls made of solid, cast iron steel. It really is something that has to be experienced in person, and honestly, after a trip to India, you'll appreciate Singapore's traffic conditions much better, despite our supposed flaws. Be thankful the next time you come across someone who makes you mad on the roads. It could be worse, you know.

In Singapore, we all know how to go about getting our driving license. Go to a driving school, get your BTT done, get the PDL, do your FTT and after a certain number of lessons, do the final test. And within that final test, we have the circuit and bla bla bla. All that sounds good and sophisticated with so many different hurdles to cross before getting the actual license. With all that you'd actually think that Singaporean drivers are very good. Well not so.. But anyhow, this is how a driving test in India looks like. And don't be alarmed, this is the actual test. I was simply shocked by the simplicity of that test. If you weren't, maybe you actually did this test in India yourself. In one of the world's most congested places, a test like that rewards you with the freedom and privilege of driving a car through the streets of Delhi or Bombay. That is incredible! Just some figures that really boggle the mind: India's percentage of the global car population stands at 1% (maybe more now) [Daily Telegraph Sep 06] and the rate of death and injury caused by accidents on India's roads? 1 person dies every 6 minutes; 10 are injured in the same time frame [bBC; Sep 2005] The man in the video also talks about buying a license without even doing the test, but honestly, looking at the way the test was conducted, I think whether your license was bought or not, it doesn't really make a difference...