Udaipur 2-Palaces panoramas and people!!

Nearly every city in India, Udaipur included, will have this rich texture of majestic buildings, palaces, parks, new residential blocks, not always well planned; and at the same time this mad anarchial kaliedoscope of narrow roads, uncleared garbage, dogs running free, and every kind of vehicle jamming these maze of roads, defying any semblance of road sense and to hell with traffic rules....... and most amazing- huge number of cycles, three wheelers and two wheelers, and in "older" parts of old cities, elephants and camels, donkeys and bullock drawn carts getting their right of way, totally disregarding the "others" right of way, and breaking every rule of traffic brazenly!
And in all this mad confusion, the bravest of the brave I know, the local traffic cop, trying the best he can in the midst of this insane jumble of vehicles, people, animals......................I have very very often seen the poor man walk away!

Its not that Indians have no road sense......... Indians living abroad are good drivers, but do commit errors here, more out of a certain lack of focus, their senses numbed after years of driving in India.

Almost all roads and lanes in older parts of Indian cities were planned before the advent of motorised vehicles and with a far smaller population to contend with.

More people lived in rural areas (this is still true, but with a population of one billion plus and the desire to make rich in cities, most urban areas have a hugh influx of migrants,)

The congestion is made worse by the endless number of shops lining all streets-the planners then felt that close proximity of shops enable the residents living above, in the same building, to shop their needs without going far- your local grocery (and most often more than one,) chaiwalla- (the equivalent of the local pub around the corner- the chaiwalla only serves tea!) your barber- (quick morning shave included!)-the tailor with his Singer sewing machine, cooking ware and utensils shop, the hardware store( paints, hammers nails and tools, wood accessories etc.,)-cycle hire, cooking-gas cylinders retailer, and roadside hawkers, quick snack vendors.......... and with the flair to go with the times, a new crop of shops for TVs, music systems and white goods, a local McDonalds, Pizza Hut, games corner!!!

All this is further worsened by the unplanned digging up of roads to lay new cables (including the new yellow-red-blue internet cables alongside the older electrical and telephone maze.)

And with the noise and cacophony levels reducing only well after midnight, people sleep through in the old dilapidated houses cloistered with narrow balconies, falling walls held by support from adjoining walls of all these close-knit structures!!!