I miss the DMV?

Day One: I have safely arrived in India. I got here on yesterday at 130 a.m., which played to my advantage because I got to sleep on the plane a few hours before landing and then I slept a few more after I arrived on campus. After that, I was basically able to stay awake all day and am not really jet-lagged at all. I was awoken to take tea and a breakfast around 730 a.m. After that, I went to meet the Vice-Chancellor’s assistant who helped me with my “formalities”. She told me I had to venture to the other side of the city, about 1 hour away, to register with the Immigration Office. Thus began my first adventure on an Indian Auto-Rickshaw. 

For those of you who don’t know, an Auto as they call it is a small, 3-wheeled taxi-like vehicle that can seat maybe 3 persons in the back and is completely open minus a little roof. My driver spoke just about no English, which I guess was a good challenge for me. We had to communicate with the few words he did know and the hand signs I could muster up. After explaining to him where I needed to go, we were off. It was absolutely terrifying. Traffic in Bangalore is crazy. There is little to no regard for lanes or lane switching. People cross the street wherever it pleases them and the car exhaust is almost too much to handle. At the same time, it seems to work for them. Everyone knows and understands the crazy rules of the road, but needless to say, I was a bit shocked. New York traffic has nothing on this. So, after about an hour of hanging on to dear life, I had to find the immigration office and register. My Auto driver found it with some help from the local GPS (asking around). 

Once I arrived, there seemed to be little to no order or structure to what was going on in the office. People were crowding desks and running all about. I finally asked someone what I needed to do and I got my number. After filling out my application, I learned that I needed 2 passport sized photos, so my Auto driver and I set off to find a photo studio. After about ½ hour, we returned with my photos only to learn that everyone had gone to lunch. So, we had to wait an hour. I went to a little local restaurant and ordered food. It was hard for me because the place was totally filled with men, and I had read and knew that men would get served before women in many places. So there I stood, waiting for about 15 minutes for my food, while most of the men got their food right away. It was very frustrating to say the least. The men just kept staring at me and many of the workers spoke little English, so when I asked why it was taking long they just kept telling me 2 more minutes. After that little debacle, I had to negotiate a waiting rate with my driver. We agreed on $100 Rupees, which is about $2.45 USD. We waited, and then I went back to the immigration office, where I waited a total of another 2 hours to get my registration certificate. The waiting was so horrible and so disorganized that people were getting into fights about who was in line first. Let’s just say, I never thought I would miss the DMV. 

Finally after about 4 hours, we left back to campus. My total payment to my auto driver was $604 rupees, about $14 USD. What a deal huh? After I got back to campus, I was moved into my dorm room. It is very minimalist, consisting of just a desk, a small closet and a cot with a pillow pad, not a mattress. Not at all what I was hoping for, but I will have to make the best of it.  Anyway, today I am going to try and shop and get registered for classes, so I’m out. I'll be posting photos soon!