Rickshaw Rollin'

I was advised by a couple of people who already traveled to India not to do this but I don't listen very well and decided I would take a 1 hour spin in a rickshaw. I was standing outside of my hotel deciding which way down the street I was going to walk when I was approached by about 3 different rickshaw drivers. I had no intention of going on a rickshaw ride but the 3rd rickshaw driver I met, Mr. VinayKumar, convinced me to go for a ride with him. I decided to go with him because he didn't really pressure me and we BS'd for about 20 minutes. I figured he was a nice enough guy so we hopped in his rickshaw and got to rollin.


If you have never been in a rickshaw just imagine it as a really small 3 wheel car that is driven using handle bars like a motorcycle instead of a steering wheel. Mr. Vinay let me know that traffic would not be too bad today since it was Sunday and the ride should be relaxing. Had it been a weekday he said he would have to swerve in out of traffic to get us to our destinations. He stilled swerved in and out but there was really no cause for concern. Things do get a bit scary when a bus is passing on the left and starting to merge, if you can call it that, into your lane at the same time. I didn't really worry about it because I figured he knew what he was doing. The first thing one must get used to is the constant honking of horns; drivers are constantly honking their horns.



Our first stop was the Court House. Mr. Vinay informed me that this Court House is were people challenged the rulings of lower courts. Kind of like our Circuit Courts I guess. He also told me that there is a higher court than this Dehli and I am guessing that works like our Supreme Court but don't quote on me on that. The picture I took is not so great but the building is pretty amazing and huge.


From here we made a u-turn, of course we did not wait for the traffic to allow this u-turn, to see the Government Building across the street from the Court House. Mr. Vinay informed me that the statue is of the first Prime Minister of India after India's independence from the British Empire. He then went on to explain to me the meaning of the flag of India. The saffron or orange color symbolizes the purity of a flame, the white symbolizes peace and the green symbolizes the Indian peoples relation to the soil. The wheel in the middle represents the law of dharma. More can be read about the flag of India here.
After all of this, Mr. Vinay took me through the back streets of old Bangalore. I didn't take any pictures at this time but I was surprised when we came out of the back streets and there was a huge hotel right next to it. The back streets were really tiny, not even enough room for a car to drive down. Little shops sat along both sides of the streets and people wondered along the roads. I plan on going out with Mr. Vinay again when I have more time and I plan taking some video footage so you can all see what driving is like in India.