Traveling to the Monastery

 

June 6. On our way to Bylakuppe from Bangalore, we were able to experience an authentic car ride in India. The lines of the road, as well as the rules of the road do not hold as much meaning as they do in America. Instead buses, cars, tractors, and motorcycles are driven in an “efficient” manner, in which the driver chooses their routes. In this picture, we are actually driving in the wrong direction on a one-way road. The horns of the vehicles are also much higher in pitch, more of a “bEpp” compared to the American “bEEP”, and are used in a much friendlier manner by the drivers here. For instance, our car would beep as a sign of “excuse me” and the other car will move over so we could pass. After we arrived at the monastery in Bangalore, I considered this way of driving seemed way more efficient than the driving in America, as long as the drivers were as attentive as they are in India and not on their phones as much as we are in America. However, it was scary when we would try to pass other cars and appear as though we were about to get in a head on collision, so maybe not!