Saturday, February 11, 2012

Auto accidents in Dimapur

Accidents involving autos / auto rickshaws occur quite frequently in Dimapur, from what I've seen in the papers. Most seem to involve alcohol consumption, so I'm not surprised. Of course, I'm always amazed that not more accidents occur (in Dimapur and in India in general), despite the apparent chaos on the road.

On Republic Day this year, after the end of the 36 hour bandh, I was sitting in my bed watching TV when I heard a crash from the street around 8,30pm.

Looking out, I saw an auto had been T-boned by a Gypsy (at least I think that's what it was).
Accident, Dimapur (26 Feb 2012)

A crowd gathered around quite quickly. Some guys pushed the auto a little bit in order to let the few cars plying the road circumvent the accident site. In the absence of trained paramedics, I saw two guys haul the driver out of the auto and carry him away, his arms around their shoulders (a big no-no if you're in Australia, but necessary in places where you can't expect paramedics to arrive in time). I couldn't see what condition he was in. Thankfully, there didn't appear to be any passengers in the auto at the time.

Accident, Dimapur (26 Feb 2012)

By 9.15pm (45 min after the crash), a truck arrived to tow the vehicle away. I was actually quite impressed by how quickly it came.

I'm not sure what happened afterwards. I don't recall seeing any mention of it in the local papers, which sometimes report on traffic accidents. Maybe someone might know more about this?

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Getting from Dimapur to Kohima / Getting around Dimapur

I have to admit, it's been almost two weeks since my last post and I'm currently in Singapore. The thing is, I lost internet connectivity my last few days in Nagaland because the top-up I paid for at the Reliance office the week before never went through *grrrr* (I paid for it, but my credit was never topped up). I then had an extremely full-on week in Guwahati at the NEILS 7 conference, which I will blog about soon.

What I was wanted to talk about in my last post before leaving Nagaland was how one gets around Dimapur.

Here's the exit from the Dimapur Railway station, as seen from the opposite side of the car park. Anyone entering the state by train will come out from this exit.
Dimapur Railway Station

If you're looking to go to Kohima, walk straight out the exit. Close to the other side of the car park, you should see a stand for shared taxis to your left. There's a counter with a sign that reads 'All Nagaland Taxi Association' (or something like that) that sells tickets up for Rs 200 a person. You'll get a seat number assigned to you. If it's seat no. 1, you're next to the driver. The other three numbers mean the back row.

Whether you look local or not, if you're carrying luggage, you're sure to be approached by touts offering rides to Kohima for the same price or slightly less. They're not usually too dodgy - the main reason these guys don't go through the ticket counter is because there's a limit of 4 passengers if they go through the ticket counter. Otherwise, they can squeeze in a 5th person in the front row next to the driver. And maybe even a 6th person at the back... That's probably why I prefer buying a ticket at the counter, because I know I'll have more space.

If you're staying in Dimapur and need to get to your hotel, your best bet is to catch an auto rickshaw, or 'auto' as they are commonly known in this part of the world. You can see a few of them parked outside the station in the photo above. Just tell the driver where you're going and ask for the fare. The word for 'fare' is bhara or bara (since most people don't produce the breathy stop) and 'how much' is kiman. I tend to say Bara kiman?, though I don't know if that's good Nagamese or not.

One convenient thing about Nagaland (and in other parts of the NE) is that the drivers will often respond with the English numbers. Most locals would also struggle to count in Hindi or Assamese, except maybe in multiples of 5 or 10.

What I notice about Dimapur as well, is the lack of big buses, which you see all over in Kohima. Instead, you see autos plying up and down fixed routes, often with signs showing the areas they are allowed to travel in.

From the railway station, you will see autos with the sign 'TOWN AREA', which is pretty straight forward, except if you're like me and haven't quite figured out what the town boundaries are. I expect Hong Kong market and City Tower would fall under this category. Another sign you might find on an auto around the railway station is 'RLY GATE TO CMD' (see the photo in this Nagaland Post article). It took me a while to figure this one out, but it stands for 'Railway (Station) to Chumukedima' - Chumukedima is the last little village before the checkpoint if you're heading from Dimapur to Kohima.

If you want an auto all to yourself, tell the driver 'hire', state your destination and ask for the fare. You don't always have to say 'hire' - for instance, it should be obvious if you're coming out of the railway station with all your luggage that you want the auto all to yourself.

Finally, if you're travelling around in a shared auto, don't forget the magic word to make the driver stop and let you down: 'SIDE!'