The drive, which usually lasts 45 minutes, took a good 2 hours (a good portion of which time we spent on the opposite side of the road, driving against traffic) to return me to the intersection near my apartment. At first, things seemed to be normal- the streets were full of cars, busses, trucks, CNGs, rickshaws, cows, and goats, all moving in their own individual directions, but moving nonetheless. However, it was only after about ten minutes of driving time that my friendly CNG driver and I found ourselves stopped, engine off, between a flatbed truck and a crowded bus with a flaming soccer ball painted on the side. At this point my driver turned around to me, said something in Bangla and then said: Jam. We smiled knowingly at each other, and then watched what we could see of the scene around us.
What's amazing about Bangladeshi traffic is that it's not "bumper to bumper" like we say in the US. On one side of the road there is an innumerable amount of lanes. If there are three huge trucks side to side, there are three lanes. If there is one truck and 6 rickshaws and two motorcycles, then there are 9 lanes. The number of lanes is fluid, based on the mode of transportation around you. Also, as traffic moves in one "lane", rickshaws, CNGs, and other small vehicles will angle themselves perpendicular to the "flow" of traffic in an attempt to edge their way into the mobile lane. They also do this maneuver when they're trying to get better views of if and when the traffic will move, and if they're trying to get out of the way of a truck's exhaust pipe. Luckily for me I had a great driver and I only once or twice was caught in stopped traffic, sitting next to a huge truck's pipe blowing exhaust right into my face (in these instances I leaned out the other side of the CNG and gasped for a breath of air and then pushed my dupatha into my face to offer some relief).
I've heard that in general the rest of the world doesn't do lines as well as North Americans. In the US if someone cuts in line it's grounds for an 'excuse me, please... there's a line', or if you're in NY, it's possible grounds for a public display of your dominant attitude. There's little to no indication that I've seen that Bangladeshi's have any inclination towards this kind of mentality towards lines. If you're at the grocery store trying to check out, someone may feel like they have fewer items than you, so they simply push ahead of you and put their stuff on the counter (often with your stuff, so you then have to specify what is yours and what is theirs). Even at the orderly airports lines are fluid and flexible. Traffic is no exception. The vehicle behind you, be it a rickshaw, CNG, or car, will feel no qualm with nudging you forward, just to let you know that they're there. This results in any number of touches and bumps- what we would call fender benders in the US- but no hard feelings! At one point when my CNG was blocking the way for a bus to go by in the opposite direction (whoops, our bad), the driver of the bus took a huge scrub brush, leaned out the window, and gave one hard THWACK on the roof of our CNG. My driver then yelled forward to the CNGs and rickshaws in front of him and, aided by a man trying to cross the street, everyone moved, was moved, or was pushed forward the several inches it took so that the bus could pass.
I loved sitting in traffic last night. The exhaust was brutal, and I came home feeling like smoked salmon of a particularly nasty variety, but it was great. If I wasn't stuck between two busses, the views were fabulous. The markets were opening along the edges of the streets and I could watch women out buying fish, vegetables, and fruits. The vendors had lit candles and stuck them into their products so that people could see better (what better way to show what you're selling!). At any give point on my side of the median would be a truck, a bus with a hundred people in it, several CNGs and rickshaws, and then me in my CNG, able still to reach out and pick a cauliflower out of a vendor's basket if I wanted (makes you really realize what kind of pollution those veggies are exposed to, right?).
There were only several times when driving on the wrong side of the road almost resulted in serious accidents (when people crossing the road wouldn't look towards us, assuming all traffic would be going in the "correct" direction, and would step out into the road). When we finally got to GEC moore near my apartment the driver got out and immediately turned down someone looking for a ride. I think he and I were both really exhausted. I ended paying him waaaay more than normal, but he kept me alive and entertained.
