Rickshaws saviors or means of death?!

Every now and again I just don't feel like walking... or playing frogger in traffic so on those days which just so happen to coincide with me being cheap, allow force me to ride in a rickshaw. Now before I go any further please know that these guys work hard and get paid very little. Image if you had to carry people and supplies on a bike up and down hills, in and out of traffic for miles on end for less then 50 cents a trip?!?! Now that you realize how much respect I have for anyone who does this for a living, I think it is only fair to let you know how much I hate riding in them...

Please stay with me. Take a look at the picture above, read the article I posted about frogger then come back and finish this one...

There is ABSOLUTELY no protection from traffic here in a rickshaw. In Guawahati there is this unspoken rules about who has the right away... cars are on the top, then buses, trucks, motor bikes, walkers (for those AMC The Walking Dead fans I'm not talking about the dead kind just plain old folks like me trying to cross the street) then sadly comes bicycles. So rickshaws get little to no respect on the streets here.

Now sit in one and image crossing through the said traffic above with people honking at you to move faster yet not letting you in to get across the street. Riding up to you and stopping suddenly sometimes even scrapping the bike... The only thing your driver has in a little bell to warn people he is trying to cross, get through or well move into their lane. As if that wasn't stressful enough, also picture yourself wearing I dream of genie pants that are so big it puts MC Hammer's pants to shame. Then imagine if you will trying to get in and out of the rickshaw that happens to be at least 3 feet off the ground gracefully while not being choked to death with your dupatta or snagging your pants on the bamboo covering. Now you have to make it to the ground without falling or getting caught in anything all while the driver is looking at you like you could stand to loose a few pounds... (working on it buddy seriously).

I keep telling people here that these are death traps. I swear it is not the way I envision leaving this Earth, but every time I am in one I can't help, but think this time, this time just might be it for old Sara Brown. By the time my life is done flashing before my eyes (which is strange cause I don't feel old enough to have a life flashing moment to take so long, but alas apparently I am now... at 30+) the driver is staring at me wondering when I will get out so he can move on. Then wonders if I am going to pay for the damage I caused by clenching his bamboo covering and leaving a dent...