It was a morning like all others. I was running late for work. So I walked briskly down the street from where my house. It is a small street. There is a Shiva temple at one end of it, surrounded by a small marketplace, which is continuously teeming with people getting along with their day.
I needed to find an Auto rickshaw (and autowallah) ready to take me on as a fare. I have to say, I am building some serious reputation with these guys. They know I take a ride to the same place every day. They also know that I am quite a stickler for these guys overcharging me. Yet, everyday they try to rip me off. Rigged meters. One and half fare. Change problems. It would be fair to say my love-hate relationship with them goes a little way back. Love you ask? Well, I need them to get around.
“Boss, JP Nagar?”
“No Boss”
He (autowallah) is a regular, he will not accept me as a fare.
Unfazed (like I am usually), I move on. I see one more auto standing.
“JP Nagar, 4 th Phase?”
Slight nod of the head.
I get in, and slip the new HBR issue out of my backpack.
[Since the traffic moves so slow in Bangalore, I have decided to make use of the gift of the time, everyday]
I have barely read few lines,
“I don’t normally take in North Indians for a fare. They are quite miserly and fight a lot”
1. The above sentence is a verbatim quote.
2. Consequentially, you can see it was spoken in English.
3. I was just accused of being a miserly North Indian (Woody Allen Jew jokes anyone?)
Well, apparently I was taken in because I was recognized from an earlier trip, 9 months ago! (Memory on steroids?)
The driver was a MR. Ranganath (as per the DL information)
What followed was a most interesting conversation. I was surprised primarily by his fluent English. And then by his awareness of things around him. Sample this:
“Kumaraswamy is a farmer, at least SM Krishna, is an Oxford graduate, India needs educated representatives for the democracy to fulfill its purpose”
[At this point I kept the HBR back in the bag]
“Bangalore has almost 30 lakh vehicles, Delhi has 50. But Bangalore will implode.”
“Why are Indian politicos creating communal rifts?”
He also offered me insight into how auto meters are rigged.
[Did you know: you can make the meter go fast, just by using a smaller tire (~smaller circumference), or by deflating it a bit (reducing air pressure)]
Imagine my surprise when he told me that he has a son working in IBM as a Software engineer, his wife works in a bank, and he himself used to work in ITIL ltd. He took VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme)
We talked some-more, and soon it was time for me to go.
“50.00”
His meter was absolutely correct!
As I handed him the money, he asked me which “company I work for and if my job was at stake due to currently prevailing economic turmoil”.
[punch me in the face someone]
I walked up to my office. Happy. Amused.
It was a morning like all others. And yet it was not.
2 comments:
:) Nice post.
We need more of these honest autorickshaw drivers in Bangalore and elsewhere
woah! really? I have a similar love-hate relationship with them too and for exactly the same reasons. I have had my share of interesting auto rides.. but nothing compares to this!
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