For my mom’s sake I’ve decided not to go into too much depth about how transportation here works or what experiences I may or may not have had. But I do want to tell all of you why the rickshaw is the ultimate way to travel. In Delhi the streets are pretty narrow, and there are a whole lot of people trying to get to a lot of different places at the same time. Cars might be the most comfortable way to travel, but the streets here just aren’t designed to allow cars to get to most places. One day we sat in unmoving traffic for a solid twenty minutes right next to an ambulance with sirens going that also wasn’t getting anywhere. To get a sense of how traffic works here, just imagine buses passing one another on this rather large country road:

Motorcycles are faster and more compact than cars, and can weave in and out of traffic pretty quickly. But cars are really good at blocking them off, especially when there are twice as many cars as there are lanes. And driving a motorcycle is not only suicidal, but obviously impossible for groups of our size.

But rickshaws—those are amazing. They can compete with the cars because they are big and visible and people’s limbs are clearly visible sticking out of it. Especially when there are four college students packed into the back seat. As an added bonus, areas that are off limits to cars—like sidewalks, alleys, and spaces between vendors on the road—are totally fair game.

You haven’t truly lived until you’ve flown past doubled up traffic with one of your three wheels up on the median and you ass bouncing off of the occasional bicycle handle or car mirror on the way. Or so I have been told by other people who have travelled to India and had death-defying rickshaw rides.

Photo Credit: Tyler Sit

As an expression of how amazing these vehicles and their drivers are, my colleagues and I composed a short song (to the tune of Puget Sound’s alma mater, for those of you who know it). I will try to get a copy so I can post it here at some point. For now, check out this page that absolutely represents what I am talking about: http://www.ourbetterworld.org/story/fluking-around-india