Tumults, uproar, commotion, are all synonyms of crossing the street in India. To those who have never attempted to do it, this subject might sound silly or irrelevant. Only those who have been through that survival experience can truly understand the imperious need of talking about it.
It all starts from the chaotic driving habits, the non-existent respect to the established rules and is accentuated because of the corrupted urban planning. They are a flexible culture, let's put it that way.
For most of the drivers the traffic signs are suggestions without true coactive power. Apparently, the red lights are suggestions to stop, to be taken just in case one realizes that he cannot go faster than the car coming from the other direction. In other cases, you won't even find a red light in a four-direction crossing, the only rule that applies: first come, first served.
The zebra crossing is the place where they must accelerate more and keep no distance with the car in front; otherwise they will spend the next 15 minutes waiting for all the pedestrians to cross. On any case, a honking concert cannot be prevented, coming from every direction and for various incomprehensible reasons. Don't expect such a thing as courtesy.
It might provoke a laugh (or two) to find signs in the middle of the road that say: "Lane driving is safe driving". As if there was a choice! Can you imagine while driving your car saying: Let me think, what do I feel like today? Should I drive inside the lane, on top of the line or both?
On the other hand, we have the high density of population that has changed the rules of proxemic communication in this country, reducing to the minimum the distances between people as they interact. Space is a luxury. They don't even fight for it, there is some kind of tacit understanding that "we all coexist with each other in this same square meter of street"; in which all includes: men, women, kids, cows, dogs, elephants, goats, crows, pigs, trucks, cars, auto-rickshaws, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, etc.
If you expect anyone to stop, you'll stay there waiting the whole day. They just won't stop. They are used to taking up their space or other one will take it. When everyone thinks and acts like this, everything seems to flow naturally, ironically, the only problem appears to be you when expecting some different rules or consideration to the pedestrians, in this junglish environment.
Considering this panorama, my fellow foreigner, take into account this piece of advice: do not even attempt to cross the street by yourself. My simple solution: just grab a cab or an auto rickshaw whenever you need to get to the other side of the street. The low prices of transportation in India allow this kind of safety prevention. Your life and nerves are worth it.