... a common enough cry on the streets of Madras. And Delhi. And Bombay. And Bangalore. Heck, in pretty much any city in India.
But what really are these strange three wheeled creatures that roam our city at night? (And by day, and by the afternoon, and dawn, and dusk...)
Three wheels, a body made of the most rickety and unstable substance known to man, and one headlight do not a vehicle make. But apparently they do.
Death traps is what they are. From the wheels that look like they've been taken from a cycle, to the frame, made from plastic straws. Not to mention the demon drivers from hell. They seem to have been blessed with the brains of a groundhog. And the reflexes of a pod racer, thankfully.
And there's this whole culture associated with these guys. The spitting, the screaming, the murder, the boozing, the late night racing... they're like a clan all by themselves. Except they hate one another. Which doesn't make for very friendly boozing, spitting, screaming, murder or late night racing. Not to mention the bargaining. The seemingly sudden rise in inflation when he quotes his price would leave you staggering. And when questioned, he'd give his usual plethora of answers.
"The fuel costs a lot"
"Yes, I agree it does, but you're taking me down the street. My Rolex seems little high a price to pay for that, don't you think?"
"We have to take a circuitous route back"
"But when I came, I came on this incredibly short route, and didn't have to mortgage my house"
"But on the way back, its longer than on the way here. That's how the roads are"
Defy logic they do.
Not to mention the flagrant disregard of rules, which apparently makes you a good auto driver, because I can't think of any other reason that they'd do this. Its lunacy. Its like getting into a roller coaster, except without the seatbelt, and without the safety of a track, and without the knowledge that you're going to end up safe and sound, where you started from.
Or probably Auto drivers have to take a special license, or do special challenges. 'Infuriate as many people on the road as possible in one minute' sort of challenges. And only those who pass get to drive on the streets. There seems to be no other explanation.
Boggles the mind, it does.
7 comments:
*nods* boggles the mind, indeed it does. But then you come across the rare auto driver who's really sweet and drives at a sensible pace and not like a psychopath. But those probably constitute 0.03% of the auto drivers out there. I guess that brings hope! ehe.
Nice entry. Made me laugh at points. :)
I so understand, the things have been my eternal enemies, 2 times I've been toppled over in em' , 3 times I've been involved in head to head crashes with them coming down the wrong lane and 2 times, they have, like equivalent of circled me around the city to get me 10 feet from where I originally was ......
but yeah, as Radha said, about 0.03% are polite and careful little beings ... the same ratio in Pakistan .... but it's been 4 years since I've been away, so things might have changed ... still, the hope lives ....
funny blog !!
10/10 ....
p.s : why in the name of hamsters do these blog things remove the caps from names ? So, terribly annoying ........ !!
Since I never blog, .... can any regular blogger please enlighten me on this ?
Thank you very much.
Not a clue, Mr.Hamster, not a clue.
Yeah... I've met *some* nice Auto people. But its more likely that they'd get murdered before they can do much else.
Kazuki Nakajima would make an entertaining auto driver. He would fit right into Chennai methinks.
I think you're thinking of Yuji Ide, Vaibu.
Or have I spelled his name wrong?
Anyway... he's the original Kamikaze.
Its like he thought the aim was to take out as many cars as humanly possible before the first corner.
HE would fit in here perfectly.
You have to appreciate the fact that they stay united. You go to any part of India and they behave the same way. Now that is what you call unity and understanding.
We should learn from them :)
Those nice auto guys must be impostors trying to wreck the family. Traitors!
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