First impressions of Hyderabad and Bangalore
You hear about traffic in India, and you can watch videos of it. But until you step into an auto rickshaw at rush hour in Hyderabad, you haven’t experienced traffic. My 50 minute commute to go 3 miles was like a roller coaster. My life was in this driver’s hands who spoke virtually no English, who didn’t know where my hotel was and had to keep stopping and asking people for directions, and then speeding off honking what seemed like 100 times during the journey. My first days in India were filled with sensory overload. So many people, vehicles, animals, sights, smells, and sounds overwhelmed me. The sheer number of people and noises everywhere was a bit of an adjustment, even to an urban American. Travel is very inefficient in Hyderabad and Bangalore. Not many people ride bicycles, but most are on motor bikes and motorcycles. Next most common are auto-rickshaws. Then you see private cars and cabs with small liter engines. Then you see American-sized cars and taxis. Occasionally, yo...