Auto rickshaws are my Practice

An autorickshaw near Gandhi Ashram...

After a couple of weeks in Ahmedabad, I noticed how strongly annoyed I was with rickshaw wallahs:
- Despite there being a meter system and a table that will translate this into a price, I would often feel that they were trying to rip me off one way or another (and sometimes they certainly did!), end up in argument with them, feel angry and frustrated... over a couple of rupees.
- When trying to cross the street, which requires all my brain power, gut feeling and faith, they would always swerve by, in the hope of some business, blocking me from that one window of opportunity to cross.
- Or they would swerve by, full of male clients, just to gawk at a blonde woman, I guess.
- Or the occasional few would have no clue where they were taking me, despite being famous places (like Gandhi Ashram, seriously!).

I was losing a lot of energy over things I could not change, while I could look at them differently and with a tad more awareness.
- they are there when you simply want to cross the street, which means they are also there when you actually want a rickshaw (and the same can't be said of taxis in London or Paris!!)
- in Ahmedabad, they do most of the time know the place you want to go, or get out of their way to find and everyone on the street is willing to help
- the meter system does make the 'negotiation' easy as the price is regulated: a good opportunity to laugh and joke with them if they give you a crazy price, as more often than not they will end up agreeing to the regulated price, with a big smile as a bonus.
- they are a great opportunity to practice my Gujarati!
- One late night looking for a rickshaw in the old city, I realised the rickshaw wallahs were sleeping in their rickshaws, despite the cold temperature. Surely, a couple of rupees above the regulated tarif doesn't mean much to me but can make a difference in their day...

Of course, it's a journey and I'm still progressing, but since I changed my mindset, going around the city has been so much more fun!

And one day I might even treat myself to a ride on Udhaibhai magical gift economy rickshaw...