rickshaw litmus test

Whatever grand notions I might have about becoming a kinder, calmer person are easily tested by a quick visit to one of the local rickshaw stands. There are two main stands in Gokulam both of which are well-accustomed to working with tourists and by well-accustomed I mean they pull all kinds of tricks. Through every visit to Gokulam it's interactions with drivers taking the long way around or the mysterious "broken meter" replaced by outrageously inflated prices that are the quickest to push my buttons and show me just how much further I have to go to that kind, calm self.

There's a hierarchy to the stands that I don't quite understand but when I insist on a rickshaw with a working meter I'm often passed from driver to driver until I reach what I assume is the lowest guy on the totem pole - the one that gets stuck with me. That's also usually the most run down rickshaw that plugs along the road slowly giving me plenty of time to enjoy the ride and studiously avoid thinking about the black exhaust making its way directly from the bus in front of us to my lungs.

Yesterday it also gave me time to take random, blurry pictures on the way from Mysore back into Gokulam.







TAA DAA - the elusive working meter :)