In January Dick and I went to India for the first time. Everything was new: the crush of people, the smells of spices, the constant beeping of horns, and sharing roads with livestock like camels, cows and goats.

The green and yellow jitney – auto rickshaw – is the standard, taxi-like mode of transportation for masses of people. It looks like a motor scooter with a semi enclosed space for seating 4 people.

But remember the old challenge: how many people can you fit in a phone booth? Well in India the corollary might be how many can you fit in a jitney. The answer:A LOT.

They toodle down the highway alongside motorcycles carrying whole families – kids sandwiched between parents in a life-hugging embrace. Massive colorful trucks lumber within centimeters of limbs with big signs that exhort any driver passing to blow the HORN PLEASE! And most drivers are passing in a constant game of cat and mouse where staying in your lane is a non-starter.

Lunch at the famous Savana Bhavana restaurant in New Delhi famoust for its Thali lunch of Indian breads and chutneys

Thali at Savana Bhana in New Delhi