The cab ride I will never forget: it was a night-time trip from Thane to Mumbai. A group of friend and I were headed to a bar in the city. I was watching the highway signs, and saw we missed our exit. So I called out, "Excuse me, I think we just missed our exit."
"Oh, no matter" said the driver. He then slammed on the brakes in the middle of the freeway, threw the car into reverse, and looked back as he began careening in reverse back up the outermost lane (not the shoulder!)
We made it about 100 meters until we got rear-ended by a tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw). The tuk-tuk driver pulled over to the cabbie's window and began giving him an earful. The cabbie nonchalantly pulled out a few bills from his wallet, the tuk-tuk guy counted them, nodded, and off he went.
We were all shocked speechless, no one said a word as the cabbie then proceeded in reverse another 100 meters. We did eventually reach the exit, and began moving in the forward direction again.
One of my friends then explained to me that was a classic example of "jugaad". As defined by the Oxford Dictionary:
jugaad /dʒʊˈɡɑːd/ noun, Indian "A flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources in an innovative way."
"Oh, no matter" said the driver. He then slammed on the brakes in the middle of the freeway, threw the car into reverse, and looked back as he began careening in reverse back up the outermost lane (not the shoulder!)
We made it about 100 meters until we got rear-ended by a tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw). The tuk-tuk driver pulled over to the cabbie's window and began giving him an earful. The cabbie nonchalantly pulled out a few bills from his wallet, the tuk-tuk guy counted them, nodded, and off he went.
We were all shocked speechless, no one said a word as the cabbie then proceeded in reverse another 100 meters. We did eventually reach the exit, and began moving in the forward direction again.
One of my friends then explained to me that was a classic example of "jugaad". As defined by the Oxford Dictionary:
jugaad /dʒʊˈɡɑːd/ noun, Indian "A flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources in an innovative way."