The Commute

I've swapped out my independent research topic, "The Commute," for a new one: "Rooftops." Research has been incredibly fun and interesting so far...but to get my commuting fix, I think it's time for a blog post about how people get around in India.

Every trip out on the street is an adventure. Cars, buses, bikes, motorcycles, bike rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, hand-drawn carts, buffalo-drawn carts, horse-drawn carts, camels, and, yes, even people all share the road. Each offers a different kind of travel experience. Here's your foolproof guide to navigating this system:

A bike-pulled rickshaw surrounded by Delhi traffic

If you want to get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible then an auto-rickshaw's the way to go. The three-wheeled cars get painted yellow and green and roam the city twenty-four hours a day. To catch one, stand on the side of the road and flap your hand excitedly with your arm extended while shouting, "Ay auto! Ay auto!" If it's nighttime, you can tell the autos by their single headlights. And once the driver pulls over, just tell him where you want to go (please note that pronouncing the destination with your best imitation of an Indian accent will be the surest way to make sure he understands where you're headed; "Goojerrat Co-lij" will get a better response than "Gujarat College"). If you're in Delhi, get your game face on and haggle the price down for the next twenty seconds or so. Or if you're in Adhmedabad, then trust that the driver's printed fare chart will get you a good deal. Climb inside, hold onto your bag, and enjoy the wind in your face.

But if truly public transportation is your way to go, then you've got a few options. In Delhi, there's a state-of-the-art subway system that never runs beyond 20% capacity because the fares are too damn high. Between cities, you can enjoy the world's longest rail system - whether you prefer to ride in private air-conditioned cars, or the more affordable open cars lined with benches instead; just be warned that a typical train ride might take about 24 hours, and upwards of 40 or 50 hours is perfectly common as well! And if you plan to stay within the city, then just hop onboard one of the buses. There are about a thousand different routes that crisscross Delhi, and sometimes lines last longer than drivers' patiences, so do try to get to the front of the line or else be prepared to pull yourself onto the bus as it begins to move.

One of the more colorful trains of India!

One of my favorite ways to get around has to be the shared vehicles. Autos and buses seem cheap to us but when you compare it to the price of rice or sugar, you start to see why so many actual commuters in India choose this option instead. Owners of vans and rickshaws will set up their own routes, sometimes based on the bus lines and sometimes not. You might be able to fit ten people into a rickshaw, or about twenty into a van. And that's where the really fun interactions begin: playing Temple Run on my iPad with an eight-year-old, picking up a few words of the local Gujarati language in Ahmedabad, or laughing at yourself when you find out that the rickshaw you chose is headed not to Lahore Gate (the entrance to the buliding you just arrived at) but rather Lahori Gate (the train station 4km away).

Shared vehicles = Efficiency.

There are thousands more alternatives if you're interested! Ride on the cart being pulled by the buffalo. Rent a bike - but make sure you get a good horn or bell with it, since the honking here walks a fine line between ubiquitous and oppressive, and the existence of standardized traffic laws is questionable. Or, if you really want to look like a tourist, hop aboard a camel and take it for a ride.

(Okay, this is actually me on a camel in Senegal. Same idea.)

The real secret, though, is to get to know your fellow travelers. Google Maps is, believe it or not, actually not used as the ubiquitous way to ask for directions and find a restaurant in this country. They use human beings instead - and if you ever don't know where to go, then looking around hopefully while asking, "English? English?" is sure to attract a large crowd within seconds. At least one person there will be happy and able to tell you where to go; everybody else in the crowd will be happy to gesticulate excitedly with their suggestions as well.