Crunch!

I was riding my sister-in-law’s bike in the town where she lives. Traffic there is chaotic – bicycles with no lights and absurd loads; motorcycles and scooters, anything from brand-new to amazingly ropey, also with absurd loads; cattle, pigs, pedestrians, trucks, buses, rickshaws, autorickshaws, people pushing or pulling carts, the occasional car...all weaving in and out around the numerous potholes and each other...

A motor-bike overtook me, a bit too fast for the conditions, and collided with a rickshaw. The rickshaw rider looked round, but there was no damage and he just carried on. The motorcyclist, however, lost his balance and dropped the bike. He ended up, unhurt, running along the road, while his bike slid across the road on its side and went underneath a truck’s back wheels. Crunch. Expensive mistake...

India, 2011