One of the advantages of not having your own vehicle to travel in after work is frequently encountering the angry brooding auto drivers in this part of the country who have the air of a Mercedes driver. Their characteristic disregard for the meter has the potential to turn into a fit of rage at the slightest provocation.
A defining quality of this species is their sense of timing- they have a knack of driving within their potential customer’s range of vision at a snail’s pace when the last thing he/she is looking for is an auto! As it turns out, the same auto drivers will not even give their customers as much as a second glance when they are in frantic search of an auto. Many a times, I have found myself in this situation waving at the auto driver in desperation only to be met with a cold glare as he passes by, sometimes shaking his head from side to side emphatically.
The other day a little later in the evening, while I was bracing myself for the arduous task of looking for an auto to go to a friend’s birthday party, I waved at the first auto I spotted. Screeching to a halt, the auto driver gave me that familiar menacing glare. Before I could tell him where I needed to go, he thundered- ‘Time!!!’ – which made me wonder if he wanted to know what time it is and I started looking around perplexed as I wasn’t wearing a watch. Within seconds, he again went- ‘Time!!!!!!!’ with a louder boom this time, followed by some angry utterances in the local language which suggested his intent to overcharge as I was asking to be dropped to my destination at that supposedly late evening hour . At the end of my tether by then, I decided to let him go and looked for another auto.
On my way back from the birthday party, I dreaded the prospect of again seeking the benevolence of another auto driver to take me home. Having left with no other choice, I set myself up against another ordeal waiting for me. The auto driver this time was an old frail looking man who came up with an ingenious excuse for overcharging- he wanted to replace his meter and needed money to buy a new one! Too tired to argue with him, I got in and counted down the minutes till I reached my house.
This after- hours fleecing and misdemeanor by auto drivers is so commonplace that I am tempted to tip the ones that agree to charge as per the meter without a sound!
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