MAR 10, 13 .. ‘ZILLA ASKS .. PART II

By Cap Chastain March 10, 2013 Accidents, Zilla

‘Zilla asked several questions about how I handle the nights.  You have two scenarios.  YOU must avoid hazards like I have shown on the sidewalks.  Those hazards are-on-you!  Then YOU must position yourself so you are not hit by traffic!

On the famous scale .. 0 to 10 .. where 0 is worst and 10 is best .. the night lighting in India will surprise you!  Overall .. and certainly there are exceptions .. the street lighting is quite good.  I would give it a 6 rating.  I am talking the business districts of course.  The shops and the stores themselves provide a good deal of lighting.  Street lights per se are not so good .. give them a 4 rating.  

The horrific problem is this:  Power Outages can be rampant!  And when the Power goes out .. ALL THE LIGHTS GO OUT!  

Yes I have and try to carry a flashlight.  I have several.  I do NOT use a cane nor a walking stick.  I would lose them.  I have a history of doing so in the United States .. so feel .. ‘why bother’ ..  

I certainly DO have night strategies!  I am out-at-night quite often .. in fact it is a usual occurrence for me to be out at night.  I wear bright colored clothing.

baba2 004OH boy wear shoes NOT sandals.  I wear low cut Nike ‘boots’ that come up and support my ankles a little.

baba2 003

I strive to LIMIT my night ‘outings’ ONLY TO AREAS THAT I BASICALLY KNOW LIKE THE PROVERBIAL BACK OF MY HAND!  Night time is NOT explore-the-local-area-time!  I walk back from the beach at night in the dark.  And let me tell you all .. I KNOW that route well!  Same for my restaurants .. basically now my primary restaurant is just-up-the-street from my guest house.  And the super market .. Nilgiris.. the same .. I KNOW THAT route!  

You don’t even want to think about an accident!  NO the local people do NOT truly speak a form of English we speak!  Your only shot in an accident is to have a knowledgeable foreign tourist who will come-to-your-aid!  

Daily I survive by the Grace of the EXCEPTIONALLY SKILLED VEHICLE DRIVERS!  I am NOT being sarcastic!  These drivers are really skilled!

The strategy here is simple:  move SLOW or freeze-up-so-still that you DON’T even bat-an-eyelash.  This allows the drivers to avoid you and they will avoid you.  If you are jumping around they can’t avoid you because they don’t know what you are going to do!  Night traffic scares me to death.   The worst is drivers with no headlights on.  They become a dark hole in the traffic and you think it is OK to move and bam!  .. here is a car or motorcycle on you that you thought was a dark hole free of traffic!  

‘Zilla also asked about ratio of cars / automobiles to other vehicles .. look at the below photos.  In the top photo below .. see the bus behind the tree?  After I took the top of the two below photos .. I walked to the bus and shot the next one.  What do you see.  A few cars .. see below.    

baba2 001

I counted the motorcycles in the two photos.  Ninety three (93) parked in this one block.  Plus about twenty (20) bicycles.  OH!  a few cars.  I can not give you a ratio.  Need I say .. motorcycles outnumber the cars by a large ratio.  Want a guess .. 15 to `1 maybe!  Do you all recognize that on the left of the below photo you can see Hot Breads and my guest house!

baba2 002

I could kill in cold blood these crazy motorcyclists that RACE the wrong way up one-way-streets!  You just are NOT conditioned to look the opposite way when you are on one-way streets.  BUT AGAIN IF I AM MOVING SLOWLY .. they miss me.  Some have gone by me so closely that had I moved a few inches in their direction .. BAM! 

Well let me print this and have look-see.  Smiles .. Cap ..

Dot Net .. what I call this site .. and I are feeling good about the looks of my recent Posts.  

ENJOY ANOTHER PHOTO OF .. THE BAY OF BENGAL !

page6 002

Look at that active ‘spray’ as the waves crash onto the rocks!

Loving it all ! Cap