'Give me a Bangalorean and I ll give you someone frustrated with autorickshaws' ,Archimedes could have, but didn't, say. Which of course, is only because he was never caught in the rain haggling for 10 rupees 'over the meter' with an auto driver who wasn't 'going in his direction'.
Autorickshaw drivers are said to be ruder in Chennai, ignorant of the meter in Delhi, and almost non existent in Mumbai. But I defy any other city to produce the range of entertainment and eccentricity that Bangalore does. Bangalore, like the rest of 'old Mysore state' infact, long had a reputation for being easygoing. Shops opened late, siestas were common until recently, and all in all you didn't find the average Bangalorean volunteering for any strenuous activity, much preferring a dignified afternoon alu bonda with steaming coffee, watching the world go by from the window. Having grown up in faster paced times, I hadn't really observed this dying out tendency, until I became a frequent auto commuter.
I wanted to go to Residency road, and naively got into the first empty rickshaw saying where I wanted to go (something I wouldnt dream of doing now!). The driver looked highly disinterested and said he had to go home for dinner. I was taken aback, dinner at 6. 30?? Yes, he said firmly, his wife would be waiting. So i had to get down, unsure whether to laugh or protest. In the next half hour, I started to get exasperated as more and more excuses turned up. One,businesslike- 'Twenty rupees extra'. 'Why?' i demanded, outraged. 'Isnt there a meter'?? 'Meter doesnt work','then extra over what'?? 'I know how much it is, you give twenty extra'.
Another, languidly- 'My house is in Indranagar. If you want I can drop you there'. By now i was beginning to feel i was asking for a favour and maybe i should just go to Indranagar..By the time I got one I could have paid twenty rupees extra from sheer gratitude! These are routine, though.
There was one very nice man who was deeply concerned as to why I was keeping a handkerchief on my nose. 'Allergy'? he asked. I nodded, surprised. 'This allergy will eat your life, you have to do yoga', he announced. and then, confidentially, 'once i was also like you. everytime i sneezed my mother would ask 'who will marry this boy'?' then i started yoga, got married at 40, and one day also don't miss now'. I was v impressed, not having met a health conscious auto driver before. 'Dont eat fried food'!he added, glaring. I promised I wouldn't, trying not to think of the happalas I d just devoured, and the rest of the journey was friendly.
The overriding characteristic (other than inducing frustration!) of course is curiosity. This is an old Bangalore tendency that still prevails. Some years ago I was collecting samples of cowdung from the road to look for certain kinds of E. coli bacteria for my work. Having put them in sterile containers, much to the amusement of onlookers ,I nearly bumped into an autodriver who was leaning over so much that in two seconds he d have landed in the dung himself. 'College'? he asked with full confidence. I said no, I had to go to Tata Institute. 'Come, come', he was extra welcoming, an otherwise extinct trait among autodrivers..'What are you doing with this'? I explained as best as I could that I was looking for small germs, the best I could do in Kannada. He looked superior 'Oh, micro organisms?' I didn't know where to look, but hastily agreed. For the rest of the journey I was quizzed on why I was using them, what PCR was, and what I worked on. We finally parted on the best of terms and with much respect on my side.
The ultimate though, was being told off by one, when a friend and I got in a Brigade road, in a rather extra cheerful mode immediately after the toughest exam we had. We were laughing about something and it stretched on a bit, to be interrupted by the driver- 'your parents send you to good colleges and you come here to get drunk and take drugs'? he thundered. We were stunned. For some reason it didn't strike either of us to deny it, infact he was so sure i almost felt it must be true. We got a withering look and much mutterings of 'wasting money' and 'modern girls' and went all the way in the kind of pindrop silence teachers ask for in vain.
But of course, the largest population by far lounges at street corners and refuses to come anywhere. If anyone can explain the mystery of how they earn a living please tell me. I m convinced they all have alternative sources of income, or just black money from some source, and they have to pretend to work! Thank God there are still the odd entertaining and genuinely nice people, otherwise the burden of 'twenty extra' and 'khaali barbeku' would be just too much to bear!!
I liked the one I met last week. Leaving a friend at the gate, I said something to her ending with 'We ll take a rick'. 'Mount Carmel college maydam'? asked the lounging one. 'Yes' we chorused automatically, without stopping to think why he should want to know. Having (miraculously) agreed to kindly drop us where we were headed, my friend asked what he d meant by the college.' Usually no, people say auto', he announced. 'Only like Carmel college saying rick'. And only someone also belonging to a local girl's college of apparently 'fashionable' (read 'notorious') reputation can understand what that smirk did to us..Of course the fact that he no doubt had it dead right made it worse :)
Ricks or autos, I m willing to pledge undying gratitude to a being who agrees to come by the meter, and anywhere you humbly choose to go, however against his critical taste. I know its a laughable wish. Sigh.
6 comments:
It somehow seems that the average auto driver does not lack money (which they obviously lack), but their lack of an adrenalin rush is often more prominent. Riding slowly in some mundane traffic doesn't present them with a challenge, they look for worthy opponents.
I've never been refused a ride to the (old) airport from malleshwaram with just over an hour for departure - they quite literally put their lives at risk (and all other warriors on the streets) and have have on every occasion taken me to the airport with 30 minutes to spare (just about enough time to check-in and board). I've seen more interior roads on these rides and heard more curses along my way (anybody's quick guide to kannada slanguage - and they're not from the driver!). They're keen to demonstrate their skills on estimating the gap in moving traffic down to the last centimetre. I even had one driver demonstrating his abilities in managing traffic better than a traffic constable - he actually cleared a gridlock by coalescing individual drivers to appreciate the situation and move back!
Give them the job satisfaction and they'll give you a ride of your lifetime!
exactly :) lack of adrenaline rush is what i meant!
true.i m a sadly unworthy opponent with my 'nidhaanakke hogi's but that cant be the reason they refuse before i get on! :)
maybe airport is a special case, i was and still am amazed
Nice post, Laasya! Am someone who gets assaulted by rickshaw drivers in Bangalore nearly everyday. They are ofcourse broadly classifiable into the good and the bad types but 2 consistent observations I am able to make based on my 2 yr experience in Bangalore are that A. no matter what time of the day, their fare hikes up at least 1.5 times when the sky is even slightly overcast to some insane figure when it is pouring cats and dogs; B. night time fare can start as early as 7 pm because apparently they have to return empty, and post 9 pm the fare is simply doubled! What most bothers me is though the complete apathy they always show on their faces. Why can't they emote like normal beings?
Sitting here, reading about the 'ricksy autos' of Bangalore makes me feel so nostalgic!!! Ah...those days, however the 'ricksy ricks' were!! Miss those!! :-)
Very well written and very true! In fact, one of the reasons why I drop mother anywhere and everywhere is because the auto drivers refuse point blank to take us anywhere. I loved the part when the driver assumed you and your friend were drinking!
Hahahahahahaha, had me rolling Laas and of course, reminded me of the time when I gladly said "You're welcome" when you were apparently thanking the rick driver (for the ten rupees he had to return anyway) :D :D
But ya, I have had funny experiences with rick drivers myself. When I went back from my IISc interview in 2001, my sister and I took a rick in Delhi. The time (as luck or rather train time table would have it) was noon and it was a sardar driver! By God! We were lucky to escape his spaceship level driving (flying!!!!!). We breathed a sigh of relief when I made it alive to my destination and was tempted to reward him with 10 rupees extra for sparing our lives) :D
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