July 12, 2007 - Kolkata, India

In India, you need three things to drive:
1. Good Horn
2. Good Breaks
3. Good Luck

The Indian buses are much like one would see in the movies. They are painted in a rainbow of colors, with two large speaker horns on the front and two more on the back, and usually have stickers of deities on the front windows. Rarely do any Indian auto's have seat belts.

While flying down the road at 50+ mph in our bus, on a two-lane, one-way highway, a larger bus cut us off. Our driver then slammed on the breaks, causing all to be flung forward. At the same time a bus behind us swerved out of our lane into the adjacent lane, but clipped the back-driver side of the bus. This backside clip did not concern our driver, instead he floored the gas (causing us all to be whipped back into our seats) in order for him to catch up and chew out the driver who cut us off.

Once we looked around to make sure everyone was fine, we all shook our heads and laughed.

Not surprisingly, in India, a high-speed car accident does not constitute stopping at the scene, unless an auto is totaled or there is a death.