a free afternoon is always an adventure...
i spent the afternoon exploring the city. leaving some friends at a cafe, i took a long walk up a less congested sidestreet. eventually i turned onto yet another street- it became suddenly quiter and the trees grew taller and greener. there was still plenty of activity, still street vendors and cars, but something was different- the light was different, and the volume level, and the temperature; another world just minutes away. giving up on trying to find the store i decided to continue the walk because it was so peaceful, and eventually, the store found me. that walk- the peace amid chaos and the comfort of exploring alone- was just what i needed. i then met two other friends at a restaurant called bombay blue for a happy hour cocktail, but the point of the following anecdote is not to elaborate the impossible blue color of my silly drink, but the crazy adventure that ensued.
first, most of the auto-rickshaws here have meters, but rarely are they used. generally, one bargains a price with the driver before getting in. tonight we took a metered auto-no big deal. it was a nice evening, and the breeze coming in the open sides of the rickshaw was a great relief from today's heat (it is january- what will i do in april?). i have gotten pretty used to the driving here, which is unlike any driving i have experienced in my life. the painted lines that pass for lanes in other parts of the world don't really signify anything in india and there is such continual beeping that you can never tell who it is directed at- seemingly defeating the purpose. bicycles, motorcycles (often with entire families on board- tonight i saw two parents and three young kids on board the same bike), auto rickshaws, bike rickshaws, small cars, big cars, buses, trucks, cows, pedestrians, roosters...one is likely to come across all of these on the road on even the shortest trip. i don't think traffic lights exist outside major city centers and i am continually amazed that i haven't seen any bad accidents given how close vehicles come to each other and to people in the streets- i can't tell if these are the worst or the best drivers in the world, but they sure are fun.
anyway, our driver had no clue where he was going because no one has any clue where our school or even gachibowli is. kiana was trying to explain to him in hindi, but he kept pulling over and asking random people who gave him the same answers as she did. we were pulled over one at a security checkpoint and the rickshaw was searched- tomorrow they are having the 82nd plenary at gachibowli stadium and every single important political figure in india will be there- so security has also been tight for that reason. i can't even describe how many huge welcome posters are hung all over gachibowli- literally every few meters there is something: poster, billboard, larger than life cutout photo of congressman x, huge and bright temporary arches over the roads every few minutes...crazy.
again, anyway. finally, he drove us past the gates of our school- they are kind of easy to miss coming from the direction we were coming from. we asked him to let us out in a town just down the road called lingampully and he demanded 400 rupees when the meter clearly said 150- no one in their right mind would pay that much even if there wasn't a meter to prove it. slyly he cleared the meter and continued to demand 400Rs. we continued to say no- we even tried to give him 200, but he still wouldn't accept- he leaned aginst his rickshaw with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. finally, after trying to convey to him for ten minutes that it was the 200 or nothing, we walked away with our monay and got into another rickshaw to take us back to school. he didn't seem to be following us, but just as we were starting to go he ran up to our driver and apparently told him his version of the story. basically, what happened was that we became surrounded by men- most of them also drivers who were just taking a roadside break- while we tried to work the situation out. i suppose we could have just given him his 400Rs.- it still would have been much cheaper than a ride of that length in the states- but on principle we refused to be cheated. kiana has had a few semesters of hindi so she tried to tell them our story- that the meter clearly said 150, we offered him more, he refused-but we wound up sitting in the richshaw surrounded by about ten guys for twenty minutes arguing about something ridiculous in a language we don't know. we couldn't really tell if the others were on our side or his, but finally he took our offer and left. he was just blatantly trying to scam us- to a point beyond which the scam would have been worth it. it was absurd and a little scary. i don't think my story telling capabilities have done it justice- i guess its one of those things where you had to be there, as they say.
well. a new day a new adventure, but for now i need some sleep.
side note: i apologize for any typos or grammatical errors in this blog- looking back i found one atrocious mistake for which i tend to give others grief, so oops! i guess we're all hypocrites at some point or another, yes?
i spent the afternoon exploring the city. leaving some friends at a cafe, i took a long walk up a less congested sidestreet. eventually i turned onto yet another street- it became suddenly quiter and the trees grew taller and greener. there was still plenty of activity, still street vendors and cars, but something was different- the light was different, and the volume level, and the temperature; another world just minutes away. giving up on trying to find the store i decided to continue the walk because it was so peaceful, and eventually, the store found me. that walk- the peace amid chaos and the comfort of exploring alone- was just what i needed. i then met two other friends at a restaurant called bombay blue for a happy hour cocktail, but the point of the following anecdote is not to elaborate the impossible blue color of my silly drink, but the crazy adventure that ensued.
first, most of the auto-rickshaws here have meters, but rarely are they used. generally, one bargains a price with the driver before getting in. tonight we took a metered auto-no big deal. it was a nice evening, and the breeze coming in the open sides of the rickshaw was a great relief from today's heat (it is january- what will i do in april?). i have gotten pretty used to the driving here, which is unlike any driving i have experienced in my life. the painted lines that pass for lanes in other parts of the world don't really signify anything in india and there is such continual beeping that you can never tell who it is directed at- seemingly defeating the purpose. bicycles, motorcycles (often with entire families on board- tonight i saw two parents and three young kids on board the same bike), auto rickshaws, bike rickshaws, small cars, big cars, buses, trucks, cows, pedestrians, roosters...one is likely to come across all of these on the road on even the shortest trip. i don't think traffic lights exist outside major city centers and i am continually amazed that i haven't seen any bad accidents given how close vehicles come to each other and to people in the streets- i can't tell if these are the worst or the best drivers in the world, but they sure are fun.
anyway, our driver had no clue where he was going because no one has any clue where our school or even gachibowli is. kiana was trying to explain to him in hindi, but he kept pulling over and asking random people who gave him the same answers as she did. we were pulled over one at a security checkpoint and the rickshaw was searched- tomorrow they are having the 82nd plenary at gachibowli stadium and every single important political figure in india will be there- so security has also been tight for that reason. i can't even describe how many huge welcome posters are hung all over gachibowli- literally every few meters there is something: poster, billboard, larger than life cutout photo of congressman x, huge and bright temporary arches over the roads every few minutes...crazy.
again, anyway. finally, he drove us past the gates of our school- they are kind of easy to miss coming from the direction we were coming from. we asked him to let us out in a town just down the road called lingampully and he demanded 400 rupees when the meter clearly said 150- no one in their right mind would pay that much even if there wasn't a meter to prove it. slyly he cleared the meter and continued to demand 400Rs. we continued to say no- we even tried to give him 200, but he still wouldn't accept- he leaned aginst his rickshaw with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. finally, after trying to convey to him for ten minutes that it was the 200 or nothing, we walked away with our monay and got into another rickshaw to take us back to school. he didn't seem to be following us, but just as we were starting to go he ran up to our driver and apparently told him his version of the story. basically, what happened was that we became surrounded by men- most of them also drivers who were just taking a roadside break- while we tried to work the situation out. i suppose we could have just given him his 400Rs.- it still would have been much cheaper than a ride of that length in the states- but on principle we refused to be cheated. kiana has had a few semesters of hindi so she tried to tell them our story- that the meter clearly said 150, we offered him more, he refused-but we wound up sitting in the richshaw surrounded by about ten guys for twenty minutes arguing about something ridiculous in a language we don't know. we couldn't really tell if the others were on our side or his, but finally he took our offer and left. he was just blatantly trying to scam us- to a point beyond which the scam would have been worth it. it was absurd and a little scary. i don't think my story telling capabilities have done it justice- i guess its one of those things where you had to be there, as they say.
well. a new day a new adventure, but for now i need some sleep.
side note: i apologize for any typos or grammatical errors in this blog- looking back i found one atrocious mistake for which i tend to give others grief, so oops! i guess we're all hypocrites at some point or another, yes?
posted by beeke at 9:48 AM
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