The Incredible India

Understanding Holy Cow’s Body Language Is a Must Cycling in India

Whoever came up with “incredible India” must be a genius who knows Indian culture intimately. Anything and everything is possible in India. When you encounter unfathomable things, you can only smile and lament “Incredible India!”

A friend once commented, “after you drove in India, you can drive anywhere in the world fine.” Traffic in India is the most chaotic in the world. Rarely existing traffic lights result in frantic Indian street scenes, especially during rush hours. Automobiles, tricycles, and bikes moving in all directions yet crammed together are all honking like crazy. The yelling and fighting between drivers everywhere only drive everyone off the wall. Magically, everyone drives with the flow and accidents are actually rarely seen. What seems even more magical is the cows strolling on the streets everywhere!

Cows are considered holy in India. No matter who their owners are, their safety is the highest priority in India and the driving lessons include one on how to read cows’ body language. For example, certain movements of their heads or ears indicate a change of direction, and so on. Bumping into cows entails terrible bad luck.

Such an incredible country will reach 1.43 billion in 2023 and become the most populous country in the world. Such a rapid rate of increase in population makes India a rising power country with plentiful opportunities and challenges. The cycling industry happens to be an interesting example of the intersection between a rising power country and the three-year pandemic.

The huge domestic demand prompted abundant bike factories in India for several decades. In recent decades, many international cycling corporations manufacture parts in India and export them abroad. After the pandemic hit, the stigma that cycling is for the poor has been shattered in India. Up to three years ago, more than 50% of bikes were used in the countryside as an important tool to transport people and goods. Worldwide fear of transmission of COVID-19 in public transportation prompted more people to cycle and fall in love with cycling.

As a big country, cycling started to become the best choice for commuters and delivery people. After all, bikes are much easier to maneuver when traffic is literally jam-packed during rush hours. People also cycle with relatives and friends to exercise, enjoy beautiful scenery, and savor time spent together in tourist spots or the seaside. According to the Indian Bicycle Industry Association, after the pandemic lockdown was lifted, there was a rise of 25% in sales of bikes than the previous year.

We are not sure how long this cycling trend will last. If you ever want to cycle in India, make sure you take a lesson to learn cows’ body language so that you can enjoy cycling in the streets where cows roam free.