The tyranny of Auto-drivers

It may be an abrupt start, but I really don't want to waste any time in getting to the point. For the past few weeks, I have been travelling from home to work and back via autorickshaws. 22 years in this city and let's say, I have been travelling by ricks since 1999 - a long 8 years, I have never witnessed the attitude of rickshaw drivers that I have seen in this period of time. Let me paint you a picture of the conversations I had with rickshaw-walas everyday -

Week 1 : I am a newbie....

Me : Magarpatta City ???
RW : 25 Rs extra.
Me : It's 9.00 A.M ..Not P.M...Are you kidding me ?
RW : turning his face around "Aana hai toh aao..."

We all must have read or heard about the comity among these folks sometime or the other. I got to play the victim this time. I had to come to terms with him. Trust me, if one of them says no, none will agree.

Week 2 : I act smart..But, they are smarter...

Me : Hadapsar ??
RW : Hadapsar mein kahan ?
Me : Near Hadapsar signal ....Sundar Sankul
(I did not want to mention Magarpatta City..Sundar Sankul is a residential complex near Magarpatta City).
RW : 20 Rs extra...
Me : Why should I pay you extra ?? It's not even late night ...
RW : We don't find customers back from there. And the Rickshawwalas there don't allow us to occupy positions at their stops/stands.
Me : What crap?? Let's go..Let me see who stops you..
After some argument, I had to agree for 15 Rs extra..

Week 3 : A bit more smarter .. I hid my I-card and tried to pull the right chords...

Same conversation happened and he asked me for extra money...
Me : I am one of your first customers for the day. If you say no, you might have to bear the brunt of an ill-omened day. (They have a concept called BONI or something similar, where-in the first customer for the day is to be treated with respect. I capitalized on that)
RW : (thinking....) Okay, fine..Let's go..!!!

This argument did not work with everyone though, so I knew I had to come up with something new to survice my final week....

Week 4 : The final week...Not a single Rejection..Yippie...

Same initial conversation..
RW : Where in Hadapsar ??
Me : MegaCentre ..It's right at the signal...
RW : Okay, fine ..Let's go...
Once, we reached the front gate of MegaCentre..
Me : Arrey...Shit..The front gate is closed to outsiders..You will have to take the backside route..
The backside gate is through Magarpatta city..I'll guide you..
RW : (looked baffled) Aaahh..okay...!!!

Finally, he dropped me at Magarpatta city and left. I knew what I had done was wrong in general, but, the animosity that had filled me up over these days had forced me to do so.

I must admit that on a couple of instances, I had my share of good luck with acquiescent rickshaw-walas.
But, on the contrary, one of the instances is worth describing :
One evening, a rickshaw-wala agreed to go by regular fare and on the way, he told me to pay him extra. I refuted adamantly. He argued incessantly and gave irrelevant arguments like
"Hum gareeb hain..!! Main public service karta hoon...Aapki regular salary hai..Hamari baat samjho...bla bla bla..".
The yapping got intolerable and I had to tell him to shut-up or stop the rick. I, definitely, did not want him to stop the rick, since that would land me in a little-or-no-transport zone. Fortunately, he carried on. On reaching home, he refused to pay back the whole balance. It was a meagre amount, but I had already had enough of this crap. I saw a couple of cops standing close-by and threatened to call them. Afraid that he was, he returned the amount. Infact, he even offered me extra money......
Till date, I cannot understand the reason behind this change of attitude and mendicant-like behaviour. What makes them do this ?? And most of you might not know, but these folks make a neat 15-17K each month. Even if we deduct the overhauling and diesel charges, they are left with 10K.
I have learnt a lesson and I hope that people who read this blog will be more careful in the future.

-Deepesh.