The Auto Ride

The Indian "Auto-Rickshaw" is unique in it's many ways.
For those who have no idea what an "Auto-Rickshaw" is.... It is actually a mechanized contraption on 3 wheels. Used primarily for transporting people. & here lies it's uniqueness.
A small-sized car in India wold comfortably seat 4 people (including the driver) & 5 uncomfortably.
A "Auto-Rickshaw" on the other-hand would seat at-least 4. Yes i am using the word at-least. It has been designed to seat 3 people in the back seat & 1 driver. But typically a auto-rickshaw on the Indian roads would have 2-3 extra people in the front along with the driver. The person on the either extreme would hanging on for dear life while screaming at the driver to get going faster.
Ok Ok..... I know every-one reading this knows what i am talking about. Or would be computer-literate enough to do a Google.

What i have sat down to pen(type) is a auto-ride i took last saturday.
It was over-overwhelmingly hot at Hyderabad (where i am working currently) & me & my flat-mate was in no mood to cook. So we took-off to try out the Mexican joint which we have been eying for a couple of months.
After a near-perfect meal (we were too stuffed to actually walk out but had to leave) we were standing at the cross-road with the hope to get a auto-rickshaw to get back home.
We did get lucky to get on the back-seat of one. 3 possible back seats taken by myself, my flatmate & another middle-aged guy. The burly Auto-driver had another passenger on his right.
When we got to the next cross-road a well-dressed guy showed his hand for the Auto-driver to stop. We come to an halt. It is not normal till there is a 5th "Passenger" on the driver's left. This guy walks over & gives all the people seated at the back a hard stare & looks at the driver.
"Hum 3 log hain" (We are 3 people). His tone was saying "I don't care who else is seating I have 2 more friends & we are going to honour you by allowing you to takes us where we want to go. Hence get your other passengers out of our way"
Thankfully the Auto-driver commented "Kaise!!!". It was more sarcastic than questioning.
The guy gives a frustrated look & we continue our journey.

A little ahead the person sitting on the right of the driver gets down, pulls out a Rs100 note for a Rs5 trip.
It's nearly 10:30 in the night. The Auto-driver is making his last trip of the day.
And this bugger who looks as though he has never had any-less/more money than Rs100 notes waits patiently. Obviously the Auto-Driver looks at us & we dutifully shrug our shoulders, indicating we too dont have so much change.
The Auto-Driver pushes off. He can do with-out a Rs5. Calling the passenger a thousand names in his mind he must have been trying to figure out how he could have confronted the passenger. The man looked as though he had at-least 5 Rs10 notes along with Rs10 worth of loose change on him. He simply took a free ride home.


A couple of km ahead we stop to pick up 2 people. but they are actually a group of 4 people. Typically the Auto-Driver would accommodate 2 passengers on his left & one on his right. But how to get the 4th person in. The group pointed out that the lightest of the lot can sit on the lap of some-one at the back-seat. & with-out waiting for some1 to respond he actually climbs over.
Here with 8 people on a contraption on 3 wheels we were traveling which was supposed to carry only 4.
& the Auto-Driver was actually racing with the snazzy cars.

And as luck would have it, there was a police check on the route.
The Hawildars rounded the auto. The Sergant demanded to see papers. & the Auto-Driver took his money-bag along with his papers. And we were on our way again.

The trip was pretty interesting. Damn funny at times.
But it also got me thinking.

next posts would hopefully be on the thoughts