I happened to travel by auto again today & my overall journey quickly reminded me of my recent experience with Mumbai auto guys. This post will be more relatable to Bangloreans who travel by auto rickshaw often.
Location, Bangalore: Me already late, desperate enough to catch an auto rush to this nearby auto stand and see some 15 auto guys just relaxing under that tree.
Me: “X road challenge”?
1st driver: Blank look on his face, stares at me & then very conveniently turns his face away.
Yeah, I know Bangalore auto guys have the birth right to not respond!!!
Amused me replying to the 1st one & turning to the 2nd one: “Arey bhaiya reply toh kar dete”, “X road ge barthira”? (Me trying my luck best with broken kanadaa)
2nd driver: “Illa Medaam, morning time traffic jam”
Thank god at least he gave a reply, Kanadda works!
Me experienced enough to know that no point in wasting time with this 2nd fellow turn to the 3rd one: “X road ge barthira”?
3rd driver: Simply shakes his head left to right & then right to left.
Me: “Yake”?
3rd driver: Does not respond & turns his face away!
Gawd, give me patience please!
Me to the 4th driver: “X road ge barthira”?
4th Driver: Despite me trying my best in Kanadda understands my accent, looks at me & says, “whokay maidam, but one & half rate”
Me: “yake one & half? It is 11 am right now”
4th driver: Smiles & starts reading his kanadda newspaper back!
Oh, I am getting late, I need to get an auto. Let me settle down for anything which this next guy asks.
Me to the 5th driver: “X road”
5th driver who was already observing me interacting with other fellows replies: “Ok, but medaam 40 Rs. Extra”.
From his accent I know he knows hindi
Me: Yake 40 Rs? Normal fare to X road will be hardly Rs. 55-60.
Driver ignores me completely & starts talking to another driver standing nearby.
Me: Ok, I will give you 25 rs. extra.
He quickly turned on his auto keys & said: “come in medaam”
I was anyways late by now, so I immediately jumped in desperate enough to reach the place asap. Finally I reached, the meter read Rs. 60 exactly. I took out 100 rs. note & asked him to take Rs. 85 ( 100 +25), he took the same & says “medaam no change”.
Me: “Arey, u already charging extra 25, give me 15 rs. back, I know u have change or get change from somewhere”
Driver very well knowing from my last phone call that I’m already late smiles in his typical way, “medaam change illa, u get change from somewhere & give me 85 rs.”. Bloody**** he very well knows that there is no place nearby from where I can get the change right now & I m getting LATE!
Frustrated I leave the auto by finally giving him that 100 rs. away!!!
Location, Mumbai: Few days back, I was out on a personal trip to Mumbai and was traveling by auto to some location:
Me: “Y road”?
1st driver starts the auto & turns his meter down. Wow, with a delight I jumped in the auto & we reach the destination in some time. The meter read Rs. 89. & I handover a 100 rs. note to him, he quickly returns me rs. 10 but is still rummaging in his pocket & small cash box. After collecting my bag & all, I get down. Auto guy with a very sorry face asks me, “madam 1 rs. change nahi hai, chalega kya”? Yeah I have lived in Mumbai for long but after all these years in Bangalore I was nothing less than SHOCKED at his reply. He was sorry for not returning 1 Rs.??? I immediately replied, “haan haan koi baat nahi”.
After finishing off my work, me needed to go back to the same place. I see a local black & yellow cab with door open.
Me: “Z road”?
Driver silent & looks at the door of his cab.
Me again: “Boss, Z road chaloge”?
Driver holds the door & me with all my Bangalore experiences assume that he is shutting the door. Me quickly started to walk away saying: “Arey bhaiya bol toh dete ki nahi jaoge”
Driver: “Arey madam baitho na, darwaza hi toh aur khol raha tha, aap pooch kyun rahe ho Z road, jab taxi nikali hai toh chalaunga hi nahi or jaha passenger jayega waha le hi jaunga na”.
I sit in the cab quickly with my eyes wide open…jaha passenger jayega waha le jaunga na! Oh wow, I think I had forgotten I was in Mumbai & not in Bangalore where auto guys don’t travel if there is traffic or heat or morning or night or…well this list of reasons can be endless actually.
I have lived in Mumbai for long & now living in Bangalore for last few years & I only know one thing about auto guys of these two places – “ Mumbai will always be Mumbai & Bangalore will always be Banaglore”!!! I love Bangalore but I do miss some of the things of Mumbai a lottttt!
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22 comments :
amazing.. i need to relocate to mumbai!
bangalore autos are over priced for the shi*y ride they give and they top it with rigged meters and a hell lot of attitude. I so hate it..
but then bangalore is such a high priced, badly planned growing city that you cant really help...
Well I got a 25paise change back from an auto guy when I was in nagpur once. i almost died of heart attack. come to chennai you will conclude blore auto drivers are gods :). They harass the customer so much
Girl, come to Navi Mumbai and u will face the same problems....these buggers charge extra, refuse to go n what not....
But seriously Auto rick wallaha's are breed in themselves...love them or hate them u can't live without them :D
@ Sneha: I know, their attitude is so hopeless :-(
@ Nautankey: Have heard a lot abt Chennai auto guys from my friends there, they all the same that they r worse than blore, thank god I'm not there :-)
@ Smita: Oh is it bad in Navi Mumbai??? And I agree, they r breed in themselves.
Yeah thats absolutely 1050% true, the Bangalore auto~people are #$#$%#%, I hate them from the bottom of my soul.
While leaving bangalore I went to railway(Yeswantpur) station from Koramangla, meter was 135/-, I gave him 150, he said no change (10-20-30-40 and sometimes 50 as well is change in Bangalore, I just smiled for the last time and left Bangalore forever :)
Read my autology, in case you are disturbed because of these poor creatures :)
Really it is so true even in Pune they will return every single paisa.
But in Chennai..hardly anyone goes by meter, yesterday I was comiung back from spencer plaza and there athe plaza everybody was demanding double the amount..I mean so openly at a tourist dpot..must be known to evry policeman but nobody takes any action.
Once in banglore..the autowala asked me the tip for tea:) and the even added...u can do so much of shopping ang will not give me something for tea!!!
ha ha .. good read.. dropped in here from smitas blog.. if u think blores auto guys r bad .. u must experience chennai autowallahs.. the are simply the worst !.. the concept of meter doesnt work ..everything is "over the meter"
@ Tarun: Lucky you! So, which city you have relocated to? And is the auto situation better there? I will surely read ur autology.
@ Renu: Yeah I have heard Chennai guys r worse. And these auto guys r a class in themselves who can come out with any rule for fare & tip & we are supposed to agree to them!!!
@ Bedazzled: Thanks for dropping by, would love to see u more here. From all the comments, I am sure Chennai guys r worse, even my friends living these crib a lottt!!!
Now I am back in my home town-Himachal, no autos here :)
To understand in a better way, you must read I am a free bird :D
I am almost forcing you :P
Once in Bangalore, an auto wallah asked me 50 rupess just for one k.m, I asked him why?
Then his answer was the funniest answer of earth, he said,"Because I dropped you at your destination"
I just ran away, didn't pay him anything
are.......kitna fark hai mumbai aur banglore me,waise banglore ke anubhaw ne hansa bhi diya.....
Well! I feel ashamed of my fellow kannadigas in bangalore do charge. But you come down to udupi and manipal.... you will see that it is flat rate and no meter charge.... still worse na....
But I have the best experience with the rickshawallah from Mysore... I had left my mobile in a autorikshaw... the fellow dialed the last number i had used.... which was my friend... and following it up.... I got my mobile back....
It happens when the auto drivers are locals, i have neither been to bangalore or mumbai. but because mumbai has most of riskhawalas and taxi walas from outside(non-marathis), so they dont show the rudeness.
its just the thought process k you are comming from other state and making money here.. that kind of mentality
traveling in an auto is surely an adventure! nice blog =)
Tumne mere muuh ki baat chin li..
I have always maintained only the truly rich can travel by autos in bangalore, the poor buy a car..lolz..
usual scene *me with no kannada gyaan*
"!!! chalenge?"
bangalore auto wala drives away without any response
and the excuses for over charging
-barish hone wala hain
-main rood pe nahi hain
-traffic jam hoga
After years of Mumbai ka meter-1, this totaly sucks :(
lol...B'lore auto guys are a species in themselves.. I am so glad my auto days are over!!!
arre bangalore ka autowaalas need to be taught some lesson. i dont know where they want to go in the world. for anywhere you ask and the reply is - no i am not going that side. every one wants to go to airport or electronic city. may get ready for mysore, but within city limits, just about nowhere for less than one and a half or twice the metre. dande se peetna chahiye aison ko. had good number of bad experiences with them. so much so that when i planned to come down to states, i was relieved that i dont have to deal with them for some time.
@ Tarun: Oh lucky you, u r outta this mess. I will surely read ur post.
@ Rashmi: Hann bahut jyada fark hai dono jagaho mein.
@ Suresh: Oh really, lucky u! The Mysore auto guy was really great then.Thanks for dropping by my blog.
@ Maya: Thanks for dropping by my blog. And I agree to what u r saying abt the mentality.
@ Zainab: Thanks for dropping by...yea it is quite an adventure.
@ WSW: ..."truly rich can travel by autos in bangalore, the poor buy a car"...hey it is 1000% true in bangalore, totally agree :D
@ Iya: Yeah lukcy you...me still need to struggle sometimes
@ anu: Yea u r surely saved from some miseries by moving out of bangalore for sometimes. They r crazy & yes, god only knows where on earth do they want to go on their own!!!
I have heard the tales about professionalism of Mumbai auto/taxi drivers.
However Bangalore or Hyderabad, the auto drivers are same everywhere and the reason is that we the people won't speak up in favor a passenger even if he/she is being harassed by them.
hahahahaha!good one kanu :) talkin of my experience with delhi autos, they are any day much better than the bangaluruaians tht u have describd. aur ranchi ke shared autos ki to gbaat hi niraali hai. though have not experienced bt feel sorry for all those who sit there waiting for the auto to get filled till people are almost pouring out of it~!!
sigh there shld be a mandtory training session for all blore auto drivers in mumbai :{
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