Transportation woes being a staple for Westerners in this country, we have experienced them all: non A/C train, common bus (that was the worst), Agra cab ride from hell, auto 'take-your-life-into-your-own-hands' rickshaw, and hallmark of our time in Dehradun: vickrams.
* Premonition-- yep, this ride turned out to be rough *
These colorful carts are obviously built for Asians. The roof is low & seats narrow; meaning to house four people per side which is never possible even for the genetically small natives. What's more, they are colorfully adorned, though terribly worn, & the engine sounds like an accelerating rollercoaster ride. The combination makes you feel like you're at an amusement park & the stark images whizzing past are only actors in a fun house.
One of those first mornings when we were still pretty green we hopped on Vikram 8 & attempted to get to Cafe Coffee Day, site of Darshan Lal Chowk, closest intersection to City Heart Centre. At that time we were still unsture of the name, so as we were pulling away Sadie just burst out "Clocktower!" which is reasonable close, thinking to ourselves "we know where to get off..."
* We didn't ask... *
The driver immediately began speaking rapidly in Hindi, shaking his head 'no' & shooing us off. We got into an English/Hindi shouting match, no other passengers being able to translate, and were finally duped to get off the vickram. The driver demanded payment, we emphatically refused and were left in a cloud of dust in the middle of rush hour traffic. It was quite the scene-- we still laugh about that day! (And yes, in a city of 1 million we serendipitously got this same driver again, this time going the right direction, and he was great!)
The miraculous thing about it is that the system actually works. The streets are packed like tetris, lane markings are only a suggestion & absolute anarchy reigns, yet traffic still moves, people get to where they need to go, and getting there is relatively affordable. Plus, what better way to meet a new friend than sitting on their lap during a grueling ride in a miniature Indian cart?
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