After using autorickshaws for much of my transportation the last 6 weeks, I have developed a decidedly love-hate relationship with them. My main complaint is that you need to haggle for every ride. I honestly would not mind paying more if I could just get in one, have them use the meter, and pay what it costs when I get out. But I digress, today I am here to give props to the India and its Auto-Wallahs, so here is goes.
If there were more Playstations in India, or more Americans had been here, there would definitely be a video game out by now celebrating the fearlessness and skill of the Indian Auto-Wallah. The thing about these guys is that they can navigate city traffic must faster then a car, due to their amazing maneuverability, so besides being the cheapest form of transportation, it is also the fastest. The common tricks of the Auto-Wallah would all fit well into a video game. They cut through secret gaps in medians to reverse direction, as well as secret cuts through construction zones to get ahead at a light. You can never stop at an intersection, unless there is a cop standing right in front of you. Driving the wrong way down the street, or the wrong way around a rotary (especially fun), no problem. The sidewalk, totally fair game. The lanes on the road mean nothing, and they are happy to mix it up with the bikes and bullock carts in the gutter if that is what it takes to get around a city bus, the arch-nemesis of any good Auto-Wallah.
In addition to the driving, the game could have fun with the diverse loads that you will be asked to carry (all these examples are real). Obviously foreign tourists are the best fare, especially when you can coax them to a rug shop or hotel that pays commission. But, you can also make good money getting a recurring contract to take 10 Catholic girls to school every morning. Other less glamorous cargoes can include a man with 6 live goats or a stack of rice bags. You could even have the game so when you pull over to pick up a load you need to negotiate the price. You would have to be able to spot the white faces quick and know to quadruple the price. Unless the sahibs look like they have been here for a while, in which case you just double it. If you charge to much however, your juicey fare could walk to the next guy.
To be realistic, however, the game need to capture that you can never run into anything. Even if you make a bad move and try to head down a bazaar street at 8PM, you need to never touch the pedestrians, old men on bikes, motorbikes with 3 guys on them or cows. Actually if you hit a cow that should probably end the game immediately, since your soul will be ruined for many reincarnations. Actually, a cow might actually be preferable to hitting a scooter with a couple and two kids on it, because then you are libel to get lynched by the locals.
Anyway, tell me this game would not be fun. Crazy Taxi made a lot of money in the US, but there the crazy driving all has to be fake. Here you can drive the same way, but it is for real.
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