Thoughts: Hannah's Blog

Since my morning mode of commute to office has been by auto of late, in increasing frequency and having ridden by autos over the years as well. I consider myself as a pro when it comes to riding in an auto and I took it upon myself to share some tips and tricks on how to survive an auto ride. 

Dive right in.

1. Hair care tips
   • First and foremost, before boarding an auto, secure your hair in a bun(I use catch clips or claw clips) If you have flyaway hairs like me, use a hairpin or click pin or whatever you call it as(the triangle shaped pin with a clasp)
   • Then, wrap a stole or shawl or dupatta around your head, like a bandit, to avoid flying hair and pollution.
     
2. Hold on to your bag
   • There are two ways to do it. You can place it right next to you and sort of give it a side hug or like me you can loop one hand over one of the hand straps of the bag so it doesn’t slide away or fall.
     
3. Feet apart for balance
   • This is the most important part. If you keep your feet wide apart and learn to balance, you don’t have to hang on to the rail in front of you for dear life. I don’t know if in your childhood days, you tried riding a bicycle without holding on to both hand bars or you tried to ride on a bus without holding on to the side bars for support. This is a similar skill, with practise I’m sure you can master it.
     
4. Do not sit back and relax
   • This is a basic mistake that most beginners make, thinking this auto ride will be like any other car ride or bus ride, No. We never know when the auto will fly over a speed breaker or swerve suddenly to the left or to the right to avoid a pothole. If you lean back too much on your seat, your back will take a beating. The trick is to lean the lower back alone slightly on the back of the seat and be ready to lean forward with the movement of the auto, adjust as required. You have to become one with the auto.
     
5. Expect the Unexpected
   • The driver might take sudden detours from perfect roads onto shortcuts and gulleys and things which barely resemble roads, don’t worry he knows what he is doing. He knows the signal and traffic bottle necks that He is trying to avoid. His mission is to take you to your destination as fast as possible, the goods riding in the back does not matter to the driver, though occasionally he might turn back to look if you are still there. 
     
6. Go with the flow
   • Sometimes he might go on the opposite side(many times) He might skip the signal a bit and join in the adjacent signal, not to worry just go with the flow. He could even ride a single wheel on the footpath and other two wheels on the road, on such occasions remember your foot work, maintaining balance is key!

Bonus tip: How to drink water without spilling? Having narrow openings in bottles helps, if not, the best place to drink will be during traffic signals when the auto stops. But this is a rare opportunity because they do everything possible to avoid stopping in signals, so in that case, look at the road ahead, if it looks straight and not bumpy, take a quick sip and cover the bottle opening right after, so that it does not slosh down your shirt.

Hope this post was helpful.