I have finally conquered one of the most challenging tasks of living in Pune: crossing the street.

Traffic in India is organized chaos, so when you commit to crossing the street, you must commit to being a part of the pandemonium. Unless you happen to find one of the rare stoplights, the traffic never stops. The streets of Pune aren’t only for cars. They are also for rickshaws, for stray dogs, for buses, for vegetable carts, for trucks, for two-wheelers, for walkers, for women sweeping with bundles of sticks, for beggars, and for cows. Here, the dividing line is just a suggestion and the swerving-cutting action is the rule of the road. During the monsoon season, the small lakes in the potholes are the perfect obstacles. Don’t worry because if there’s an accident, it’s never the pedestrian’s fault. The traffic hierarchy is: pedestrian, then two-wheeler, then rickshaw, then automobile. Instead of traffic rules, there are only horns, so you should never take the honking personally. Oh, and the traffic moves in the opposite direction as that in the United States.

Ready? Go.

The best way to cross the road is to abandon all logic and to forget all of the rules that your mother taught you (Sorry, Mom). Just start walking. Eventually, if you set a consistent, slow, deliberate pace and keep an eye on the objects around you, the moving vehicles will predict your movements and swerve around you. It sounds crazy, especially when you are stuck in the middle of moving traffic, but it works. To avoid getting hit, just don’t move backwards and try not to cross while a bus is coming.  Quite easily done.

The first time I successfully crossed the street by myself, I felt so victorious. I never knew that such a basic task in life could be so rewarding. I envy the ease and the confidence of locals when they step in front of a force of two-wheelers and cars. They never think twice. Sometimes when I am trying to cross Fergusson College Road, an audience of Indian men taking their lunch break gather on the side of the road. They find it amusing to watch the awkward American girl who is trying to decipher the unsaid traffic rules while dodging two-wheelers. Although they mock me, their laughter never diminishes the triumph of reaching the other side.