i brought my camera in the taxi this morning.

originally, i had great plans to write about the hospital. the hospital is interesting and different, in so many ways. but then i thought maybe it would be better to wait until i had some pictures to go with it, in case you get tired of reading and just want something to look at. so perhaps we can talk about the drive to the hospital (and taxi rides in general). while there is a public transportation system here in the city, it involves hopping onto an often still-moving bus with the destination labeled in hindi on the front, which seems less than ideal to us. similar situation with trains, though one would hope they come to a full stop. so with taxis being plentiful and cheap (about $1.25 each way to the hospital), they're our default option.

and what an adventure they are. first of all, they're these 1950's fiats or something. (dad? looking to you on this one.) but definitely not from anytime recently. when you get in, they pull a little lever to reset the meter that's mounted on the hood, but the meters are also from 1950 and so when you arrive, the driver pulls out a card that converts the price displayed to what you actually owe, based on 50-60 years of inflation. no seatbelts. we thought we hit the jackpot the other day when we got into one with seatbelts, only to discover that there was nothing to buckle the belts into. alas.

then, the driving itself. lanes, as far as we can tell, are optional, and there's only a rough sense of where the middle of the road is. the honking is near-constant, despite the establishment of so-called "silent zones" in the city. half the time, the honking is at pedestrians who are wandering across the street, although to be fair, that's the only way to get across. when we met our attending the first day, his words of advice were "two things you need to know. only drink that (points at our bottled water) and the cars will not stop for you. they will. not. stop." nay, they pretend to speed up, although if you walk forcefully enough they actually do stop (so far). so, in the road, everyone's honking and beeping and it's a giant cluster of motorbikes, buses, taxis, pedestrians, bicycles, and the occasional oxcart. sometimes, people on horses. i could not capture the oxcart on film, but i will. note the family of three holding their one helmet in their hands. i think the law is like lifejackets on a boat. as long as they're there, it counts.

and then, the sidewalks. the best way to describe what's happening on the street is that it seems to me like a giant anthill. people are pouring out of everywhere and everyone's doing something. folks are selling things, they're rushing off to places, they're leading cows around, and they have everything you can imagine on their bikes. we've seen bikes with bricks stacked across the whole frame, bikes with 20 or so trays of eggs strapped to the back (disastrous should he have a run-in with an unyielding taxi), bikes used to wheel plywood along. then there are folks like this guy. why does he look like he's working so hard?

oh, because he's walking downhill and holding this back.


finally, a topic i would like to address. begging. this generally happens when we're stopped in a bunch of traffic, and until now we've generally avoided handing out money and stick to buying candy for the cute street kids who follow us around. but after a man who was missing both arms and his teeth popped his head into our window, we decided to separate out our coins to have them ready to hand out. this seems to have backfired on us today, as giving a coin to one woman (who then lingered, disappointed, and waited for more) today prompted the three other beggars at the intersection to run to our car, as our taxiwallah shook his head and sighed/laughed. so, really i'm open to suggestions about how to best handle this, because i feel like a jerk for not being willing to give my money up to some double-amputee or a four year-old darting between cars, but once you start it spirals out of control. until, i suppose, the light turns green.

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