Taking back the streets

I can now cross “get hit by a car” off my list of things to do before I die.

Heh. I had the iPod on and wasn’t paying much attention anyway as I walked down the road back to my apartment. They drive on the left-hand side of the road, here, but I generally walk on the right-hand side anyway, cuz, well, I’m an American. =) So, as I’m walking down the right-hand side of the road, the rickshaw driving towards me pulls off to its left: right in my path. So, of course, I step out left, into the middle of the street, and HORNSCREECHTIRESBOOM… fortunately, the driver wasn’t going very fast, and had lightning fast reflexes. I wasn’t even hurt, although I probably deserved to be. Well, my pride was rather hurt, but that’s nothing new. It now occures to me that the rickshaw pulled off the road not to be a jerk and block my path, but rather because there was a a vehicle coming behind me…

When I say “mini van,” I mean that in a rather literal sense. Here’s a picture:
They’re rather amusing. They have an amazingly high center of gravity, an engine smaller than a lot of motorcycles in the United States, and are the only alternative to autorickshaw for a taxi. The engine is in the back, so when you sit in the front seat, sometimes your toes are less than 12″ from the car in front of you. And that’s just normal Indian driving. =)