Those who know me well know that I've had a long, colourful history of interactions with autorickshaw drivers all over India. The most recent one of note, that didn't end in me losing 5 years of my life due to stress, went something like this...
I need to be somewhere by 8 am these days, and it's such a joy taking an auto at 7 am, cruising down half-empty roads with the cool Bangalore morning breeze tickling your tonsils.
I noticed today that the auto driver was enjoying it too. He had his head wrapped Arafat style, which not only protected him from the said cool breeze, but (as I soon discovered) also deprived him of peripheral vision! He'd gaze entranced at the sight of the rolling lawns of Cubbon park, and because he had to turn his head to the left to actually see it, he wasn't aware that slowly he'd begin pointing the nose of the auto in that direction too. And when he finally looked forward, he'd jerk to a halt with an "Uhh" sound because a motorbike had suddenly materialised in front of him out of nowhere. Then a few kilometers down, he'd be lost again at the sight of some other park to the right, and of course his auto would follow. Then, "Uhh"!
So for the entire 12-14 kilometers, we went wheeeeee (meander left) - Uhh - whoooooo (meander right) - Uhh - wheeeeee - Uhh - whoooooo - Uhh.
I soon found myself chanting this in my head again and again - wheeeeee - Uhh - whoooooo - Uhh - wheeeeee - Uhh - whoooooo - Uhh!
Much like the adoring crowd at Obama's victory speech, chorusing fervently, "Yes, we can!"
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2 comments:
when you paid him the fare at the end, did he return the change you can believe in?
Well, it did go *kaching*!
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