The Rickshaw

Now, Since I doubt that you have rickshaw-pullers in China – or in any other civilized nation on earth – you will have to see one for your yourself. Rickshaws are not allowed inside the posh parts of Delhi, where foreigners might see them and gape. Insist on going to Old Delhi, or Nizamuddin – there you'll see the road full of them – thin, stick like men, leaning forward from the seat of a bicycle, as they pedal along a carriage bearing a pyramid of middle-class flesh – some fat man with his fat wife and all their shopping bags and groceries.

                                                             - The White Tiger

Rickshaws in India come in several varieties. There's the bicycle rickshaw Aravind Adiga describes in The White Tiger. Half bike/half cart these are primarily found in smaller cities or towns. The operators on the whole are a spindly lot. We've only taken a couple as it feels kind of demeaning especially when we hit an incline and the driver hops off and has to push. Range is limited to a kilometer or two and fares are about half the price of their motorized counterpart.

The auto-rickshaw looks like a three wheeled golf cart. In Sri Lanka it's called a three wheeler or tuk tuk. The name tuk tuk is derived from its vociferous and dirty 150 cc two cycle engine. Where tuk tuks go a bluish gray bilious cloud of exhaust is sure to follow. In a herd of tuk tuks the cacophony combined with the fumes can make one lightheaded.

The auto-rickshaw driver steers the vehicle using motorcycle like handle bars and a floor mounted lever to shift gears. Behind the driver there's a bench seat that can accommodate three reasonably sized people and four if you don't mind having someone in your lap. The driver's seat is quite wide and in a pinch passengers can ride on either side of him.

Behind the back rest of the bench seat is an open area that can hold two or three backpacks quite nicely. The driver and passengers are covered by a canopy like roof. Twenty kilometers is probably about the maximum distance you want to go in an auto-rickshaw. Interestingly enough though there's group called the Adventurists that holds a biannual auto rickshaw charity race across India. 5000 kilometers in two weeks. Good luck to them. Here's some rickshaw specs if you're interested.

The last kind of rickshaw is the non-mechanized human powered one called “tana rickshaws.” We only saw these in Calcutta and found them kind of depressing. Skinny, barefoot men dodging in and out of traffic pulling their tatty rides. Most are extremely poor and sleep under the cover of their rickshaws at night.

Getting off a train, bus or airplane rickshaw drivers are more than likely your first point of contact with the place you're visiting. This is sad because of the legions of thoughtful, gracious and kind people we've met on our trip rickshaw drivers are some of the pushiest, most conniving and untrustworthy. They're also annoying and probably the bane of my travel experience thus far.

They get you just as you step off the train/bus. You're still bleary-eyed and really just want a shower and a place the heave your bag down.

“Where are you going?” He says smiling.

If you don't know, he has a suggestion. He doesn't tell you but that guesthouse/hotel pays him commission. If you already have a place picked out he tries to convince you that it's in a bad neighborhood, the owners are crooks or the hotel burned down. When you ask him the price he usually quotes you an astronomical fare. You don't know that because you've never been here before and reasonable fares vary pretty wildly in India. Two kilometers from the train to the bus station in Jalgaon is 15 ruppees where two kilometers from the Golden Temple to the bus station Amritsar is 50.

If you're lucky there's a government operated prepaid fare booth at your train/bus station. Independent operators will do just about anything excepting throwing their bodies in front of you to keep you from reaching the prepaid booth. In those last few steps towards the counter it's interesting hear those prices plummet.

If there's no booth then let the haggling begin. I usually start with half but I've known some operators to crank their prices four or five times over the reasonable going rate. If there's a crowd of rickshaw drivers which is often the case several on the fringes will shout out prices. Use one of those at your base for negotiation.

Once the fare has been worked out there's the ride to your destination during which the driver offers you his services for a city/temple/ruins tour or tries to take you by some gem or souvenir shop where he gets a commission. Sometimes he'll hang around outside your hotel/guesthouse to see if you change your mind.