Sunday, September 03, 2006

Good Morning!

A description of an incident after quite a long time...

So this morning, I land in this town from the bus and look around for an auto-rickshaw

After avoiding the various drivers, I go to the counter directly and get the ticket to my destination. The driver is a thin young man...

A man stands nearby and seems he wants to someplace near. The driver agrees. I have a companion now. The meter is set for him and we are on the road but in some other direction.

Around 40 rupees later, we reach the person's destination where he refuses to give 1.5 times the meter cost as he was not told so.

Anyway, we are back in the opposite...

Halt, college kids want to catch a train and the auto halts for them too... 2 kids are telling him to wait... for... hmmm... 3 more kids...

So... after 5-10 min... they also get in... 3 sit... one person "sits" facing us... and one in the front... I am at the right end staring out to the open sky watching as the sun is slowly waking up...

Enter - Railway Station... 5 get off... 39 rupees... Yes, 5 kids means 1.5 times...

180 degrees - We are on our way... White and Khaki... kind of a Traffic Signal... yes a traffic police... It seems it is illegal when you take a fellow in the driver's seat...

That makes it another 10 min as the fellow tries to proves his innocence by showing the ticket I have... no use... 100 rupees fine... or pocket-money for the TP... whatever...

So there he is... two extra trips for a quick buck... and now he is at loss...

I am late now... so how do I react... give him a fine scolding as soon as we reach there and then pay him... hmmm... not my style...

Or, pay him less and if he protests... I could explain my stand... sounds logical huh...

We are on the way to my place... finally... then I think of Option-C... pay him fully... why make the fellow's poor start to the day even worse...

He may correct himself or he may continue to take risks with passengers who don't protest... but I am not in this anymore...

Reach home - pay him and enter home... nearly an hour or so... But it is another nice morning... you rarely see sunrises these days...

Good Morning to all...