Organized Chaos

“I accept chaos, I’m not sure whether it accepts me.” – Bob Dylan

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I’ve been in Delhi for two days now.  Each journey outside of my safe house aka my hotel room is nothing short of an adventure.  The first thing I quickly learn in Delhi is that you as a pedestrian, have zero rights.  The right of way on the streets go from biggest vehicle to smallest vehicle with buses ruling, followed by the mini hatchback cars everybody seems to drive and auto rickshaws (which are my new favorite thing ever, more on that later), and then motorcycles and bikes, and finally pedestrians. 

EDIT: Can't believe I forgot, the right of way hierarchy is still the same except I forgot the true #1... Cows.  They get to go wherever the fuck they want and everybody dodges them.  Kinda karmic justice (see what I did there) that the creatures I've enjoyed eating all my life now get the right away every damn time.

From the moment you step foot near a road, it’s a real-life game of frogger.  Constantly looking both ways, one must dodge all of these automated predators, with the idea of safety via a “walk signal” being nothing short of laughable.  Even on the “sidewalks,” you have to pay attention because guess what, motorcycles have no problem with and will most likely jump up and ride on the sidewalks cruising within inches of you as you stroll along.  This was shot with my iPhone to my chest (to give you perspective on how close everyone and thing gets) and know that this was on a less crowded section of side streets, hence why there aren’t any buses.

Delhi streets are a practice of organized chaos.  Walking on the streets is certainly perilous, but riding in one of the automated predators is a bit different.  While the driving is crazy, with people often merging into oncoming traffic and lane lines being mere suggestions, there is a fluidity to it.  The car horn (as I’m sure you've noticed from the video) is used extensively and is a giant part of the process.  Strangely though, drivers use it mostly to say “Hey buddy, I’m coming up on your right” as opposed to the “Fuck you! Move!” I experience every day in LA.  

Whenever I’m in a car or rickshaw, I don’t feel stressed, primarily because each of these drivers grew up in this chaos and know exactly what they’re doing.  Yesterday, while out looking for apartments, I asked Deepali (an employee of the organization that is helping me get settled here as well as set up my project) how one learns to drive growing up here.  She told me the hardest part of driving in Delhi is the traffic/craziness and not necessarily learning the car controls (clearly), and said you start out learning early in the morning when things aren’t so crazy and then work up to peak times.  Makes sense… regardless, I thought at some point I’d maybe rent a car here, but now, not so much.

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Cows Outside My Hotel Room Window... Ribeye, anyone?

The biggest mistake I made prior to coming to Delhi was not learning any Hindi.  I had the illusion that since the British had been here for almost 100 years and that India was technically considered the largest English speaking country in the world, I’d be cool with just knowing my native language.  Well, I was quite wrong.  Communicating with merchants and taxis has been quite difficult.  The remnants of the caste system still remain, thus many lower income individuals only speak Hindi and if you’re lucky, a bit of English. 

Not only does the language barrier make things difficult for purchasing goods or travel, but India is also a bargaining economy.  Everything that does not have a direct price tag on it is up for bargaining… and even those that do probably are.  Furthermore, being fair skinned does not help in where the bargaining price point starts, as I’ve read I’ll be charged up to two and three times as much due to my "Caucasianess" TM Chris Osborn 2013.  

Yesterday, I spent most of the day with the aforementioned Deepali and her friend, Munish looking for an apartment.  And quite frankly, without their services I’d be royally screwed.  From one apartment to the next, they haggled prospective landlords in Hindi to find something in my price range which I had to already increase by $100 a month so as not to live in complete dilapidation. The place I ended up with isn’t great, however, it has a ton of amenities (gym, pool, cleaning service, high speed wifi, free breakfast) and due to the shortness of my stay, it was really the only option. Sigh.

However, after hunting for an apartment, Munish had to go to work but gave me his number and told me to call him day or night if there were any issues with the place or if I wanted to “party” to which I chuckled and promptly saved his number in my phone thinking of good times to come. 

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After lunch with Deepali, I felt encouraged to be a little bit more adventurous on my own.  So, later last night, I decided I wanted some American food and needed to figure out how to get to a mall.  Instead of having the hotel set me up one of their cab drivers who would take me, wait outside, and then bring me back for more money than I wanted to spend (~800 rupees or $16), I decided to finally brave my first rickshaw experience.

Rickshaws are bright yellow and green, three-wheeled automobiles that are actually more of a hybrid between a go-cart and a golf cart.  I believe their engine even starts in the same fashion a lawnmower engine starts with a long cord pulley.  They are everywhere in Delhi, and provide the cheapest transportation for anything that is motorized.  This is what these bad boys look like:

Open-aired and seatbelt less (I'll be careful, Mom), they offer a fun alternative to your typical taxi.  Like taxis, they’re often bunched together on corners, waiting for Indian customers or the opportunity to rip off a white dude like myself.  I tried bargaining, and to some extant did ok I feel, paying 300 rupees round trip for 8.7 km, i.e. a little more than five bucks for five and half miles of driving.  Here is my first experience:

Definitely my new favorite type of transportation.  I will, in fact, be taking these often from now on. Kidding, Mom ;)

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That’s all for now.  As I finish writing this post, I’m heading over to the “Action for Autism” headquarters to meet the team that has already been helping me get ready for my project over the last couple of months.  I’m also going to get to see some of the research they are doing at the HQ which includes training parents of children with autism on different treatments.  I move to my new place on Saturday, look for a new blog post over the weekend chronicling that transition.