Bicycles in Delhi

GR was haranguing us with stories of traffic problems in India, specifically in Delhi. He said that normal people become monsters when you put them in traffic in Delhi. They might seem like the nicest person in the world in the office, but put them on a bicycle, and you’d never recognize them. And bicycles are the worst. Everyone rides them to avoid traffic more easily. And they’ll go anywhere…scooting between cars, riding on sidewalks…they’ll even ride through someone’s house if they open the door!

But he said the funniest thing was when two bicyclists would get into an altercation. They’d both pull over and have a “fist fight” on the side of the road. Of course nobody actually hit anyone. They’d both point at themselves and angrily ask, “Do you know who my father is?!” Because everyone has a father in a high position of government in Delhi.