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Need, Greed or Just Old Habits Refusing to Die?

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by satchitananda, Jun 17, 2014.

  1. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi Sri, sorry for the delay in responding.

    You hit the nail on the head. This is typified by autowallahs refusing to ply when it is raining or demanding exorbitant amounts to ply during that time. It is worse if one has to go to hospital or is facing some kind of emergency. The degree of emergency is directly proportional to the fare.

    Talking of flowers being thrown away, isn't that the practice followed by some countries which overproduce grains? Dump them into the sea rather than handing them over free of charge for people who are starving in poorer countries.
     
  2. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi Quebec, so now the currency of payment for rickshaw drivers should be in kilos of onions???!!! Well, well, well .... it all works out to the same I guess. :-D
     
  3. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    The police inaction is what is most irking. One sees these huge posters everywhere with phone nos to be contacted in case of drivers who refuse to ply or demand excess fare etc. But when it comes down to brass tacks ......

    Meru and Ola cabs are good when they come. But half the times they are not available and there have been occasions when one has been ditched at the last moment. Probably with increasing demand they too prefer to go for more lucrative drives.
     
  4. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    That is quite true Coolsandy. Ignoring some of them repeatedly does help. The unfortunate part is that many people just succumb to the demands of these drivers even when there is no crying emergency. They skew the ground for other passengers too by getting these drivers habituated to demanding and getting higher fares.

    Yes, there have been some good auto drivers too ..... but they are the few​ memorable ones.
     
  5. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Periamma, there was a time when auto drivers in Pune and Bangalore were really good. Today, however, they are all travelling the same path. Often they are not fit to be spoken to - as they say "apni izzat apne haath". So it's best not to talk to them at all.

    I remember an incident when the meter was ticking away furiously. Normally the fare door to door was 100/-. This one showed Rs. 100/- almost half a km away. I stopped the auto, paid him the amount and got off. I did not say a word. Despite that he started fighting with me about not going with him upto the agreed destination.
     
  6. Kamalji

    Kamalji IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Satchi,

    Read yr tale, now read mine. There are no meters in jaipur of autios, and the private AC cabs, look at this now.

    First they came up with , minimum 30 bucks for the first km, then 12 for the next ones.
    Then , 30 minimum extra u pay over the meter, 12 per km

    Then it was , 125 minimum, for some 7 or 8 kms, u had to pay 125

    Now the mother of all these days, pay minumum 200, even if u go one km, and u will wonder there are stillt akers for it, is notour country rich eh !money is falling off trees.

    They break yr spine in Banglore, here they give me heart attacks.HAHA
     
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  7. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    LOL, Kamalji, one thing we can be sure about. The rickshaw wallahs are certainly in cahoots with hospitals and docs giving us reason to visit them for various problems! :-D The docs are in cahoots with the municipal corps too, getting them to dig up roads to look like the surface of the moon. And so it goes on in a vicious circle, ad infinitum.
     
  8. navs23

    navs23 Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Satchi,

    Having used autos as the only way to commute, that too from one end of the city to the other for many years(no public transport that route and taxi was not affordable), I can totally relate to what you have written. Lot of times, I used to panic seeing the rapidly jumping meter, get down half way and either walk the whole distance or luckily find a bus going that way. I also remember trying to get into autos which had a digital meter, for the conventional meters were all(most of them) so tampered that they moved so rapidly. I hear there is a new metro rail in Bangalore now, but someone said, it is so deserted. Maybe, people should start using the rail and give the auto drivers a chance to fix their meters. On a lighter note, these auto drivers with their hyper meters, have made me walk so much that, I was super fit and fine then, that my mom constantly fed with high calorie foods to make me look not so underweight. So, that way, if you ask me, atleast for health reasons, long live greedy auto drivers and their faulty meters!
     
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  9. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    You are right Navs. Let's count our blessings. :-D

    As for metros they still cover only miniscule stretches of the city. So one can't really count on them unless they cover part of one's journey or unless one wants to go for a joy ride.
     
  10. Kamla

    Kamla IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Satchi,

    Not easy eh? !

    Navs says she walks the rest of the distance it keeps her fit. Well, that's what I call as looking at the bright side of things. But imagine walking at times in scorching sun and what if you are not fit enough to walk the walk?

    It of course reminded me of my last visit to B'lore where I was so dependent on the autos and taxis. From where I stayed, we could not even get autos and some phone numbers of the auto drivers were provided to me and I had to call him and make an appointment like he was a private cab!! After they realized that this lady is from the richie rich Amrika, they charged me dollar price!!!!!!! Wish all of us in America were really rich like Rockafeller!! That's when I braved to walk to the nearest main street and hailed my autos! In doing so, I found a nice kind auto driver who said he would come if possible and I should call his number whenever I want. He used to drop me at my destination and said when it was time to return, I should give him a call and wait. Believe this or not! See, that's why I have still hope for mankind. :)

    Same with the cab driver who picked me up from the airport at an ungodly hour. He gave me his phone number and asked me to call him when I am returning and I did call him, at the middle of the night, to pick me and drop me at the faaaar off airport. He came, packed the suitcases in and dropped me safely.

    How can I complain......For every ten normal ( I say normal as that is the way things are today!) cab and auto guy, there is One nice one if you are fortunate to find him! Gaurdian angels exist. kneesmiley

    L, Kamla

    Oops, I forgot to Congratulate you!! Congrats for being nominated to FP of the month for this input by our Bad Angel Quebec!!
     
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