There's always room for one more

With over a billion people, India has some spatial challenges. It's hard to fit everyone in where they need to be and where they need to go. While we still on occasion like to have our "personal space", our comfort zone has drastically decreased since arriving. Here are a few of our favorite modes of transportation and some capacities that would not be conceivable in the US.

First is the share auto. If you hire a regular auto you get to sit all by yourself with plenty of leg room. However, you also end up paying a lot. A trip from our place to a nearby movie theater would cost at least 200 rupees. However, with a share auto, the driver goes on a set route and you can get in and ride for however long you want. That same trip ends up costing 30 rupees a person. But the "share" part means the driver tries to pack as many passengers as possible into the auto to maximize his profit. So, it's not uncommon to see one of these chugging along with around 15 humans crammed into something about the size of a smart car.

The family sedan. Motorcycles can be used for lots of useful ventures including hauling your entire family around. These boys have probably been riding in the same position on this bike since they were born. While comfort and safety are not really important in this option, you must respect the way they are able to still make it work without breaking the bank.

As nice as they are, share autos don't cover most of the city. Therefore, the vast majority of the population of Chennai must rely on the bus. These buses vary in shapes and sizes and colors and smell. They have deluxe A/C buses (which are pretty nice), regular deluxe buses (basically means that the doors close), standard buses (as pictured in blue), and the old-as-dirt buses (above) which are a lovely dirty green color and the metal has melted in certain places.

Since most people have to ride buses, they tend to get pretty packed. We were on a particularly crowded bus one time and I started counting (from what I could see, which means no one under 5'7" was included). I got to 115 before we got off. It's really crazy just how many people can cram on to these things, which are always overflowing with eager young boys running alongside and hanging on for dear life. The green bus pictured above gives evidence to just how many people will hang on to the side and tilt the bus till its nearly toppling over. Sometimes the buses get stuck in that position even when they're empty.

So, as our world gets more crowded and full, we can say for sure that our experiences here in India have prepared us well to realize the potential space not yet used to its full potential. So forgive us if the next time you see us we are trying to fit into the back of your minivan that already has 7 people in it - it's just who we are now.