Rickshaws

If you ask anyone to describe their time in India, I guarantee that they will tell you about autorickshaws. I love them, I would love to buy one and bring it back to Colgate with me to ride around in on campus. Autorickshaws are like tiny open air taxis. They are everywhere and they will take you practically anywhere you want to go - for a price. Rickshaw rides are insane. Rickshaw drivers will drive their rickshaws into the smallest little spot at top speed. They weave in and out between huge trucks and speeding vehicles. Some rickshaws have music, which they blast LOUDLY. Techincally, you are only supposed to have 3 people in each rickshaw. This rule is rarely, if ever, followed. We tend to jam as many people in a rickshaw as possible. The maximum I've had in one rickshaw was 8 plus the driver. Rickshaw drivers are also insane. They almost never know where you want to go, but they will tell you that they do. Then they will drive around asking everyone where they should go. The great thing is, that you always eventually end up where you want to be. Because we are white, and thus the rickshaw drivers think we are incredibly rich, they are always trying to rip us off. They usually tell us that a ride will cost between 2 and 3 times what it should. This leads to a long, frustrating bargaining process. They are always surprised when we look at them and tell them in Hindi exactly what we KNOW the price is supposed to be. We are always angrily telling them that we live in Hyderabad, we know how much it should cost to go places and we know they are trying to rip us off. It is always incredibly amusing when you arrive and they tell you that because there was traffic, you need to pay double. That is when you laugh at them, tuck the money in their shirt pocket and walk away. All in all, rickshaw rides are an experience that you can't fully understand unless you've been in one. I hope you all get a chance to experience them once in your lifetime.