Only in India

It's hard to explain everything, as there are some things we see/experience that would at home be strange or offputting but here we just shrug and say 'only in India' and it is instantly forgotten as anything strange. I'll try and remember as many as I can.

Only in India can you:

See a man squatting doing his business in the street, having a conversation with his friends.

Find the hotel staff sleeping on a mattress behind reception.

Share the street with cows, I have a bruise down my thigh from a cow headbutting me when I tried to shoo it out of our Dharamsala garden...

Have the smell of urinals and food stalls mingle in the air.

Get stuck behind a broken rail crossing barrier, but instead of waiting for officials to sort it just get your tool kit out, 6 able men and take it off the road.

Use your horn to: alert other drivers you are there, you are over taking, you're going round a corner, you're going straight, you're changing lane, staying in lane, have a cough, generally that you own a vehicle, warn a pedestrian you'll run them over, you just think the road is too quiet.

On the metro, women have their own carriages. If men try to ride in that carriage there is a fine. I think this should be brought to the uk!

Small trucks that are designated as 'goods vehicles' tend to carry people. Lots of people. They hang off the back and sit on top of each other.

Large trucks have musical horns.

Extra large trucks carry hay in giant sacks that overhang the sides and back of the lorry bed. 

Seat belts are not mandatory. Most cars don't have them in the back.

Tuk tuks (autorickshaws) are the most convenient way to travel around cities. They are basically motor trikes with a cover on them that can hold 3 people if you don't mind getting cosy (If you're Indian there is no limit to how many people fit). They fit through gaps you didn't think could exist and you take your life in your hands when you get it. The only way to travel! 

There is no limit to how many people you can get on motorbike.

Have the Taj mahal, THE Taj mahal behind you and yet you want to take a photo of 2 sweaty white people.