Riding along in a Rickshaw

So where was I?

I'll admit I had a bit of a breakdown after that first day. Everyone warned us about culture shock and I really did feel prepared coming over, but you really can't know until you get here. The combination of the noise, heat, terrible pollution, and the severe claustrophobia I experienced made me want to pack my bags and go straight home. The morning and evening commute alone are enough to drive a person nuts. Luckily the guesthouse and work tend to be calm within this massive chaos, so I've since recovered from my moment of weakness. Slightly.

In other news, on Wednesday I took a rickshaw for the first time!


So the process of finding a rickshaw (or rickshaw wallah to be more precise) who will actually take you where you want to go without a hassle is more difficult than you may imagine. We waited at the corner for a good 10 minutes trying to find one to take us to work. Now I don't mean to say that rickshaws just ignored us, on the contrary, at least 5 stopped. BUT once they heard where we were going (to the center of Bangalore during morning rush hour) they would just shake their heads and drive off. When one finally did say he would take us it was only because we agreed to pay him 20 extra rupees. I've since noticed that it is rare to take a rickshaw without ultimately yelling at the driver. Either he wants to overcharge you and not put on the meter, or even if he does he may mess with you and the meter will go way faster than it should. I love taking the rickshaw with my roommate though, she knows how to play the game. She obviously looks like a westerner so they always try to overcharge her, but she yells or walks away and bargains till she gets a good price.

Actually riding the rickshaw is quite an adventure though, its pretty exhilarating in fact. I have to keep a scarf over my mouth though because the fumes from other vehicles are too much to bear. I probably should be more worried about crashing and safety issues, but I'm really not. I think being a pedestrian is way more scary. Below is a link to a video I recorded when on a recent trip outside the city (which I'll write about later), but the rickshaw experience is quite similar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_pKiemjEak

Work is going well so far, I am expected to do quite a bit in my first week which is both good and bad. I'm still in a post-thesis slump where I don't want to do much of anything, but I guess it would be worse if I were bored. And the work has to do with researching solar technologies that could benefit India, so its pretty interesting. When I first saw my boss she walked right by me, which I took as a compliment since she didn't immediately recognize me as an obvious foreigner. She was pretty surprised when I finally introduced myself!

Everything has been ok in terms of food so far as well, the only complaint I have is that all the meals served to us at work and the guesthouse are vegetarian! Not to mention that lunch and dinner are pretty similar - rice with something spicy. Turns out that breakfast is often spicy as well, who knew. I've gotten used to having a constant burning sensation on my tongue. But I'm constantly hungry soon after I eat, I need some protein! My former roommate back in Boston would agree. On the plus side (ha....ha) maybe I'll lose a good ten pounds.