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auto-rickshaw...NOT bajaj...

the auto-rickshaw - one of the most popular means of transportation in Mumbai (and perhaps the whole India, but since I haven't been to any other places outside of Mumbai then I wouldn't know).

also quite popular in Jakarta - but we call it bajaj (pronounce ba-jai) over there...maybe because the ones that we got in Jakarta were made by Bajaj originally (Bajaj is a company that makes these sorts of things, although recently they grew and started to do all kinds of business)...

riding one of this auto (that's the nickname for them in India) in the busy streets of Mumbai is one helluva adventure indeed...
in a place where the nobody follow the lines, couldn't care less of the traffic lights, and road signs serve no purpose other than decorative...a place where people could drive on both side of the traffic, to any directions as they please...a place where vehicles are (literally) less than an inch apart on all 8 directions of the wind...and to make matter even worse, cows are roaming on the street...

wait a minute...cows??? yup...right...cows. they are holy animals here, so they could do whatever they please and nobody will stop them (hmm, I think I have a picture of cows on the street. that'll be a topic for another day) - believe me, when a big bus or truck driver is being faced with two options: swerve right, hit the cow, get mauled by the crowd...OR...swerve left, hit the auto with that Indonesian inside, nobody cares - I don't think you have to be a psychic to tell which way the driver will swerve...

auto is a cheap and convenient way to go places - offcourse they are noisy and they vibrates like hell. and offcourse it is kinda scary sometimes (well OK, most of the times) when the driver snaking his way through tight spaces between (significantly) bigger cars, buses, and trucks...

but hey, you only live once, right?

I took this pic using my cell-phone. though image quality is not top notch, it's decent enough...
that guy in blue, he's my colleague from the same office. the other guy still sitting inside is also a colleague from work...

posted by Chrys @ 21:13