What it Takes to Drive in Karachi Traffic

Today I had my first experience of driving in Karachi traffic in Pakistan!

If you are wondering why this event is worth mentioning, I will give you a bit of context… The rule that you should drive on the left-hand side of the road was adopted by the city of Karachi as an elaborate practical joke. I am of the opinion that they adopted this rule to surprise foreigners when a rik-shaw or 50cc motor-bike zoomz past on your supposed side of the road.

Traffic lights should be referred to as yield signs and the way you get through a four-way stop is by forcing your way through with much hooting and intermittent braking.

Suffice to say, Karachi traffic is a horrifying prospect to those who are uninitiated to its eccentricities.

It was this horror that I was faced with. Granted it might be a bit of an exaggeration to call it a horror, but there was a definite sense within myself that I would succumb to the Karachi traffic circus. To make matters worse the car I was driving is an “old reliable” Nissan that has a couple of “quirks”. Suffice to say, I envisioned a couple of the ways in which things could go wrong and by the time I got into the car I had a definite feeling of nervous anticipation.

As it turns out however, my anxiety was misplaced and none of the possibilities I envisioned ended up coming to fruition. Within a couple of minutes I felt comfortable and I quickly started enjoying the traffic and the old Nissan. Once I was behind the wheel on the road, I realized that driving in Karachi is not a dark art and is perfectly manageable. I still have things to learn and I should by no means get a big head but once I was driving, it was definitely a lot easier than I expected it to be.

There is in fact a fascinating organic order that gets created out of the chaos of Karachi traffic. Everyone on the roads are highly alert and respond immediately to changes in the traffic. Every vehicle finds their space and things keep flowing even when you would assume that they wouldn’t. This is an enjoyable phenomenon to be a part of.

So what is the moral of the story?

We often get overwhelmed by the prospective difficulty of things. Tasks often look unmanageable from the out-set and we get jittery at the prospect. What we should keep in mind in these situations is that, very often, the task will be completely within your capacity to manage, once you actually start doing it.

Things are much easier once you stop thinking about them and actually start doing them.

Fears and delusions are amplified in thought whilst capacity is recognized in action. It is always advisable to try and not over-think things and, once you have decided on a course of action, to focus solely on the doing.

Of course there are people who have the opposite problem. Sometimes a person will trivialize things in thought and not recognise the skill and experience required to do something well. When you watch a football player volley a ball out of mid-air, it looks easy to achieve. You will only recognise that it is not so easy once you actually try it.

Ultimately, actually getting up and doing is the reality check. Sometimes we will find that what we think will be easy is in reality exceptionally difficult but more often than we realise, what appears to be really difficult or even impossible is in actual fact completely manageable.

We should all be aware of the fact that thought does not reveal our capacity and ability to us. If you want to know how you will manage, if you want to know the limits of your capacity, then stop thinking and start doing.