Monsoons, Autorickshaws and Fares

I'm sure you've all heard about the monsoons that pop up around this part of the world. The word "monsoon" is used to label the season in which the wind blows from the southwest in India and adjacent areas that is characterized by very heavy rainfall, and specifically the rainfall that is associated with this wind. A better way to describe it is "raining cats & dogs." I thought I'd dodged the monsoon season, but last week we were pummeled by a series of storms. The storms killed at least 80 people in the state and destroyed many villages. It caused substantial damage in Hyderabad as well. The overall amount of rain wasn't huge (5 inches), its that it fell quickly and the drainage is non-existent. It did cause my 20 minute commute to the hotel to turn into an hour, but I can't complain. I could have been one of those guys riding by me on scooters.

Exploring Hyderabad is not as simple as just walking out of the hotel and strolling the avenues. For one thing, there are very few sidewalks. If there were any, those appear to have been ripped up to make way for road widening projects. So walking is kind of "at your own peril" kind of propositions. As one who values life, I have decided to walk on streets only in cases of dire emergency.

With the desire to see some of the sites, I decided I didn't want to pay the hotel car to drive me around. So I walked out and hopped into an autorickshaw - not something many would suggest a tourist do. I had him drive me up to Golkonda Fort, an ancient fortress perched on a hilltop. The drive was like a triple E ticket at Disneyland. I had no idea if this chap was going to just drive around for an hour and dump me somewhere (I could have taken him!) or just running up his tab. I learned a valuable lesson - always settle on a price before you actually drive off. He got me there safely and waited for me to tour the fort (it was an impressive, but full of trash). Also experience the concept of differential pricing. There are always two prices in India - one for locals, and one for tourists. The tourist price isn't just aimed at those of us with fair skin. They also apply it to Indians from abroad. In this case, fort admission was 5 rupees for locals, and 100 rupees for me. We then toured around the huge, man made lake Hussein Sagar (constructed in the 1500's). The lake also features a huge statue of Buddha. This region used to be a Buddhist intellectual center, but there are few, if any Buddhists still here.

Now back to that price for the ride. When we got back to the hotel he said "600 rupees" and I just smiled. I'd been informed that the roundtrip would cost me no more than 50 rupees. He also said "tip, tip" as if the 600 rupees weren't enough. Now he had been a decent tour guide and tried to name the places we'd passed, plus he hadn't gotten me injured or killed. I ended up giving him 450 rupees and told him he could drive me to the Charminar on Sunday. More on that later.