Auto-Rickshaw Adventure

All foreigners who stay overnight within a Tibetan Settlement must register with the local Indian police   Unregistered foreigners may be jailed for five years and I have better things to do than languish in an Indian jail cell.

Auto-Rickshaw

To get to the police station, two local monks met me and another western scientist at the guest house on Friday afternoon.  The monks would serve to guide us through the registration process at the police station.  The only transportation from the guest hotel to the police station was one of those three-wheeled, yellow and black, auto-rickshaws.  We did not get far.  Apparently, we picked the wrong driver or the wrong auto-rickshaw.  On the way to the police station, we went over a bump and then the driver lost control!  We crashed into a wall and the vehicle overturned.  Smoke poured out of the back of the vehicle and gas spilled on the road as we all climbed out of the top.  The driver blamed the crash on failed brakes, but the monks thought he was just a bad driver.

Anyway, I am completely fine and so are the monks!  However, the other western scientist hit her head and she felt dizzy. So, we got into another auto-rickshaw (that's all that was available) and took her to the hospital.  She shows all of the signs of a minor concussion:  headache, dizziness, feeling foggy.  She does not have any memory loss and is not feeling queasy. After an hour, she was released from the hospital and we got a car to take us to the police station.   Of course, when we got to the police station, the constable was not there so we could not register.  So, we all went back to the guest house.  I advised the woman with the concussion to get some rest and let us know if her symptoms changed or got worse.   She could wait until tomorrow to register.

After an hour, I got back in the car for a return trip to the police station.  This time there were no problems on the road.  At the police station, there was a big argument going on with several men and several officers.  I am not sure what the problem was, but the “discussion” was very heated as people yelled at each other.  I just sat on a wood bench as my paperwork was being processed.  After I was fingerprinted, it was time to go.

I don’t know if any of the men arguing with the police ended up in jail, but I am sure glad it isn’t me.