Hyderabad ki shaan..... " Shared Auto "

When i reached hyderabad few years back, i had lots of things running in my mind. People had told me a lot of things like it will be very hot there .... lots of poverty .... and most of areas will be like chandni chowk of delhi.

I got down at Nampally station and guess what i saw ...a crowded place outside just like another chandni chowk [things told me were coming true] but as i moved on i realised there was lot more to hyderabad than what was told to me .... theres were many beautiful buildings ... big parks .... posh areas but one thing caught my attention the most in first few days .... crowded auto rickshaws which can give cars some competition when it comes to filling up people in it. Can you imagine 11 -12 people stuffed into an an autorickshaw..... if u find it tough to digest then just read on , i will tell u first hand experience of travelling in shared auto [;)] ......

So here i was in hyderabad all set for the first day of my job. I dressed up nicely in my formals and along with 3 other friends started from my place and reached bus stop but as always bus didn't came;) and it was time to hire an auto. Now this was not a shared auto :) ..it was normal hired auto, so journey was good. We reached office and after completing intial formalities and meeting my team it was time to go back and this time i was alone.

As i came out of office somebody suggested to take shared auto as it will be cheaper and so i started waiting for a shared auto. An auto came with driver shouting Ameerpet..Ameerpet..Ameerpet and crowd rushed towards it within 10 sec auto was full . By full i mean 3 were sitting at the back and 2 on front seat along with driver!! and i was lucky enough to get a seat at the back. It didn't look menacing but i didn't knew tht this was just the begining;). After travelling a km, auto stops and auto driver again says those magic words Ameerpet...Ameerpet...Ameerpet and guess wht happens three more people fit into the auto and now seating arrangement was like this 3 were seating along with driver in front seat , 4 at the back seat and one hanging outside. Auto driver looked like a fighter pilot stuffed into the cockpit of his jet fighter!! and my heart was beating faster as auto driver could hardly move his neck and balance of auto could go haywire anytime. We would have moved a km more and our auto stops again and 2 guys come running and hang outside the auto. Would you beleive it 10 people in an auto!!!!!!!!!! [11 including driver] and except one person everybody in the auto was smiling as if it was a daily routine to travel like tht but i had enough of it, i didn't want to make my first day in office more eventful. So i immediately got down there and paid arnd 3 rupees for this unbelievable journey [not bad though .... in amusement parks i would have paid arnd 100 buks for such a ride;)]

Within few weeks i realised this is a norm in hyd. ... autos with 10-11 people don't surprise me anymore but still i opted for safer option went for a bike [;)] ......

I always felt that Michael Schumacher was best driver world has ever seen when it came to overtaking and fast driving but my thoughts changed after coming here ;). Mr. Michael you can't beat these auto wallas ...I can bet on it :) ....