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Attacks on women continue

Women are still being targetted in Bangalore by right wing elements who have totally lost it. Pink chaddi campaign for all its “fun” seems to have backfired! =( The kind of abuse being hurled at them goes beyong shocking. Why they resort to such down trodden act is beyond my understanding. 

I got these three cases as an email forward. Please post this on your blog as well, if possible.

Incident #1

Your browser may not support display of this image.Time, date of Attack: 9:00 p.m, 24th Feb 

My name is Lakshmi. I was attacked on 24th Feb at around 9:00 pm. I was walking down Vasanthnagar after I’d wrapped up work looking for an auto. At the underbridge I noticed four men walking down the road towards me. I crossed over to the other side, just in case. I continued to walk down towards Kodava Samaj. Suddenly I realised that the four men had crossed the road as well. Once they were close enough they started pushing me and passing comments. I tried to ignore them, stepped around them and continued walking. They turned around and walked back towards me and started pushing me around. I finally lost my temper and turned and told them to leave me alone,  

One of them came really close and started abusing me in Kannada and Hindi. At that point I pushed him away from me. The next thing I know I’m in the middle of a roadside brawl. The guy who spoke to me punched me and the other three started hitting me as well. I fought back and all of us were in a scuffle All through the attack I was abused in Hindi and Kannada for wearing jeans and fighting back. After what seemed like an eternity I heard an auto go by and I shouted out to him. Luckily for me he stopped. For a split second the four men were taken aback and let go off me I pushed them and ran across the road, climbed into the auto and begged him to take me home. The four men followed me to the auto and tried to drag me out. At that point the auto guy started the auto and rode away. The whole attack must have happened in a span of about 5 or 6 minutes.

 

Incident #2

Your browser may not support display of this image.

 

     Time, date of Attack: 11:15-11:30 on

My name is Jasmine. I am a Bangalorean. At least I think I am. I fell in love with this city two years ago and shifted base from Mumbai. I was on my way to work at Koramangala at around 11.15-11.30 in the morning when my auto broke down at Ulsoor. As I was hailing another one a white Quallis slowed down next to me and the occupants said something to me in Kannada. I rolled my eyes. That was their provocation.

I do not know if that angered them but the more I dwell on that unforgettable episode in my life, they seemed like predators, on the hunt. Before I knew it four middle-aged men emerged out of the vehicle and began verbally assaulting me.  

First they started hurling obscenities at me in Kannada and then it became physical. They started touching and pulling at my clothes. One of them tugged so brutally at the shrug I was wearing that he scratched my neck. Their goal — to show the collected crowd the top that I was wearing underneath my shrug.

When the shrug didn’t come off with their tugging, the violence of the tugging increased. In self defence I hit out at an offending hand that was trying to disrobe me. The response, he slapped me hard across my ear. Then they began trying to lift my top up while making references to ‘pink chaddi’ – the only words I could understand of their tirade.  

I told them I would call the police and one of them arrogantly proffered me his phone to make the call. The few people who dared to gather and watch were dumbfounded and no one said a thing. Some passing cars even slowed down, but not one stopped to help.

The whole time, the four of them kept up the tireless rant of obscenities, calling me names and trying to humiliate me in front of the gathered crowd. They couldn’t bear that a woman was looking them in the eye, and each time I raised my head to look at the tormentors, they kept pushing my head down, threatening me not to look at them in the face. While they were hitting my head, an army vehicle drove past. They stopped and intervened. Finally the army men helped me into a rickshaw to continue on what I thought was going to be a regular day at work. 

It looked like these guys just wanted to make a spectacle and humiliate someone that day. And I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t want to imagine what would have happened to me if the army men hadn’t put an end to the humiliation. I do not want to talk to the cops as even with hardcore evidence, the police didn’t do anything about the Mangalore episode and those hooligans are out. I do not want to talk to the press and be anyone’s political scapegoat. The whole situation was a nightmare and every time I talk about it, I relive it.

Incident #3

 


Time, Date of Attack: 13:10 to 13:40 | 17.02.2009

 

My name is Geetanjali. At 13:00 I get into my car start driving home. Almost immediately I notice a motorbike with 2 men chasing horning, hooting, and over-taking my car in a dangerous manner.

 

I turn onto 100ft road. The bikers follow me, then while over-taking the driver shouts at me and spits onto the window of my car. I make an angry gesture at this unprovoked action. The bikers then block my car from the front and ride very slowly. Cars behind us are now honking loudly.

 

I arrive at the 100ft Rd and 12th Main junction. I intend to take a right and have my right indicator on. The bikers also take the right turn and then stop their vehicle in such a way as to obstruct my passage.

The driver of the bike proceeds to get off his bike and starts attacking my car. For the next 5-6 minutes he then proceeds to beat on the car and shout obscenities in Kannada. I do not retaliate in anyway. No-one tries to help!

 

The pillion biker looks shocked at his friends actions and begins to roll the bike to the left side of the road. I seize the chance, and try to drive away. While doing so, the front bumper of my car grazes the bumper of the bike. This infuriates the attacker further.

He gets onto his bike and chases me. I realize that I don’t know where the police station is in this locality, and decide to seek refuge in my friends house. With the attacker following me closely, I drive straight into the basement parking area of an apartment in Indiranagar.

 

The attacker parks his bike outside and pursues me into the building. I get out of my car in an attempt to flee, but he corners me against my car and proceeds to shout obscenities while constantly stepping closer and closer to me. This goes on for about 5-10 minutes. I do not retaliate verbally except to shout for help from the security guard.

By now he is less than a foot away from me. I cannot move back as my car is behind me. I slap him on his right cheek. He lunges at me and tries to punch my face, I manage to evade him, however he succeeds in punching my jaw.

 

At this action of his, I start to shout at him loudly in Kannada about his shamelessness at raising his hand on a woman. He is startled and steps back. The security guard now steps in and tries to push him out of the building. I use this opportunity to run towards the staircase.

I have just managed to climb 4 steps up when I realize that the attacker has run outside to the road and has started to come running back in with a large stone in his hand. He is continuously shouting and swearing.

 

I run upstairs and find the resident of the 1st floor apartment rushing out of her house. I caution her about going downstairs. The attacker is still shouting. I hear a crashing sound as he throws the stone at my car.

From the 1st floor apartment window, I can see that the attacker is waiting outside the gate of the building. I ask the owner of the apartment to call the police, but she refuses to do so. I then ask her to call the guard via the intercom and ask him to take down the license plate number of the attackers motorbike. By the time the guard picks up the phone, the attacker rides away.

 

Post-mortem

On questioning the guard, he said that the attacker took down the license plate number of my car and threatened to find and harm/kill me later. None of the neighbors who were watching helped or took down the license plate number of the attackers vehicle!

 

I have never felt like leaving my country for good. Yesterday I felt that. For that day I was homeless and orphaned and helpless in a way like never before. The residual feeling today is one of deep sadness at the frailty of humanity. The end of innocence for having stared at the nobility of the human spirit caving into the heart of darkness.

 

 


 

 

 

I am tired.

The big question.. where did these people prop up from? Out of the blue? Who gives them right to go ahead with such fanatic act? Why isn’t anyone doing anything? They are a disgrace for kannadigas but why aren’t the real Bangaloreans who lived in the city for ages doing nothing about them?

UPDATE: @santoshp says “Did you listen to what Home minsiter of k’nataka says ”do not bring such silly things to my notice” BJP in K’nataka is worse!”

Filed under: Bangalore, People, Terrorism, Women, politics

D-Day chronicles

D-Day stands for Dentist’s Days, the rotten days when I had to visit dentist. It a series much like GTA. check out what this guy’s experience with dentists

Dentists and me never see eye to eye. My first visit to the dentist was when I was 4 years old. Yes that’s when I had my first cavity :-) Thanks to be diet comprising of sugar, chocolate and everything nice. (PS: So I guess that tells something about my chocolate/sugar intake! :-P ) I guess I will save that story for later, and I will jump to my latest visit to the dentist.

It all started with a Happydent. Yes, the same chewing gum, which is supposed to keep my teeth white and happy, instead it left me with a dent. Ouch! I had got this filling done in my second last tooth on my right side (what do you call those… molars?) anyways as soon I bit this chewing gum, the whole filling came out and for one second I froze in pain. I couldn’t scream or move.

I immediately rushed to Hosmat, the closest hospital from my M G Road office; the dentist peered into my mouth, which I struggled to keep open, because of pain. She injected local anesthesia, which put me at ease for a while. Then she used mirror and those tiny little tongs (don’t know what it’s actually called) and came to the conclusion that I needed to undergo a root canal. Damn root canal? That means 7 more visits across two weeks, which would involve grinding of tooth, filling of tooth, getting my tooth X-ray-ed and yes getting my tooth capped so that I have no further issues with that tooth. (Sheesh I was just seeing how many times I could put in the word tooth in that sentence!) The treatment sure promises to leave a Rs 7K size hole in my pocket.

You think everything was done with that? A big no I say! My lady doctor left the best for the end. As a parting gesture she told me that I have 7 minor cavities as  well, which too deserve some cleaning. Oh groan rilly? Why couldn’t our teeth be made of platinum or titanium or something that strong? Why this feeble material called calcium?

More on my dental tragedies.. Soon…

Filed under: Bangalore, People, chupchap , , , , , ,

Maid in Bangalore

Yesterday

He: My maid hasn’t come for like ten days now!

She: Mine too. I have a ton of clothes to wash

He: Oh I have a washing machine, so washing is taken care of. I just hate washing dishes and I have to do it these days. That sucks!

She: Hmm I can understand, it’s okay as long as they inform before they disappear.

Today

He: Guess what, my maid turned up today!

She: Woah rilly? Mine too

He: Do all the maids in Bangalore plan and take leave together?

She: No idea, but I gave her a good hearing

He: Oh yeah, me too!

No one asked for their version – yet! But the mystery remains, where did the maids go for ten days? He stays near Indiranagar and she stays at Koramangala. Localities are not even close by. What are the odds of both the maids taking off for ten days and coming back the same day?

PS: I know it’s been a long time since I blogged, I owe it to my laziness and a dental problem I had (more on that later)

Filed under: Bangalore, India, People, chupchap , , , , ,

Just another day at PVR

Maestro logoImage via Wikipedia

My sob story with PVR just doesn’t seem to end. I know my blog is starting to look like a complaint box right now but hey am not the bothering type.

Location: PVR Bangalore

Me: Two tickets for XYZ movie

PVR: For xx:xx show?

Me: Yeah exactly

PVR: L10, L11 seats okay

Me: Perfect

PVR: So that would be Rs 300

Me: You accept card?

PVR: Sure we do,err it’s VISA right?

Me: Hmm nope Maestro, Cirrus

PVR: Sorry sir, we don’t accept

Me: But since when… hmm… never mind.. here is the money (good riddance)

Friend: Psst I think they read your blog.

Me: Thanks I couldn’t feel any better..

(now in mind)

Oh god why why.. in case they had to read my blog why that post.. couldn’t they read my auto-cribbing posts? sob sob

For those who are here for the first time: I had blogged earlier about how I was asked reveal my debit card PIN number while buying tickets there. I don’t know if it’s because of my post or not, they have stopped accepting Maestro cards (which require PIN number to be entered); they accept only VISA cards now!

PS: I guess I should stop giving myself too mcuh credit. May be they had some issue with Maestro after all :-P

Filed under: Bangalore , , , , , , , , , , ,

Money hai to honey hai

This is not a review of Money hai to honey hai, nor is it a post describing how much money one ends up spending on a girl; but more a post on how much money one ends up shelling out in Bangalore. Let it be auto, house or even a small thing as parking space, you have to shell out money, money and more money. I see no end to this lust for money and this is the one thing, which makes me hate this otherwise beautiful city of Bangalore.

what.com

credit: morewhat.com

I have lived in this city for more than a year now, I haven’t seen a landlord who demands a reasonable amount for a house, nor have I seen an autodriver who demands nothing more than what is shown on the meter (honest autodrivers exist but very very rare).

Why this greed for money? When did it all start?

Can the tech boom in the city be blamed entirely? Can the rising cost of living be blamed? Are people’s minds here so skewed that they try to cheat someone of his money at the earliest opportunity they get? Is it right to demand more money just because they earn at rates 10 times your salary?

Why do people who crib about “Bangalore changing” and relish good ol’ times, never reform themselves? Do they even reflect on their actions… at their hypocrisy? I say this because most ‘landlords’ I have met till now are pakka Bangaloreans.

Even govt seems to be doing nothing to help, we Bangaloreans shell out most for a litre of petrol; nor have they made any attempts to bring down land-rent rates. I know India is ‘experiencing inflation’ as of now, but this is artificial… manually created inflation.

I know I have raised questions without actually answering any of them.. that’s because I don’t have answers to them. These questions have haunted my mind for long and I wanted to share them with everyone, that’s all. Have answer to my questions? Please feel free to use the comments section…..

Zemanta Pixie

Filed under: Bangalore, chupchap , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Another auto post – no cribbing ;)

Having lived in Bangalore for more than a year and having sufered more than a zillion times at the hands of auto guys I am left wondering how their psyche works, how they think. At times they are awfully sweet; at times they are worse than vultures but  hey without them Bangalore would have been a pretty boring, sleepy city. So to help out all confused Bangaloreans and the new comers to Bangalore I present to you a 21st cenury guide to Bengaluru auto driver’s psyche.

NOTICE: I have written way too much about/against auto drivers. This post is just an attempt at trying to understand the way an auto driver’s mind works. Yes, I am trying to justify auto drivers here. You must be thiking I am insane right? I know I surprised myself when I started writing this :-) !

Autorickshaws are a popular form of public transport in Bangalore

Imgae: wikipedia

Frustu sorts

They feel like the whole world is out to get them. It is his wife somedays, it is the rising fuel prices at other times. Whatever be the case, he has his customers on whom he can take out his frustration. Charging ten rupees extra from them is the norm for him, well yes, he can at least pick an arguement and distract his worried mind for a while at least. (Funda inspired by Fight Club)

The pirates

Life is pretty lousy — read: slow — in the outskirts, in the various hallis (villages) that surround the city we used to and continue to call Bengaluru. And everyone wants a piece of the action that is happening in the Indian silicon valley. So they hop on in their semi-kerosene powered autos and venture into the city making more sound than intended by designed. Once in the city, they catch up with city tradition of rigged metres and ‘double meters’ and pretty soon they are dodging traffic cops and making more dough than the auto guys with permits. But hey they do it only to feed their hungry families back in the ‘hallies’. (Funda inspired by American Gangster)

The PR folk

They don’t care about money, all they care about is developing autodriving into a respectable professional option. As if joining one of the top-brass auto unions in the city wasn’t enough, they make an extra effort to gell with the 2.0 generation. They learn english, give advice on best residential areas and even substitute brokers/house agents at times. At the end of the day, their life is just another mask they wear during various stages of their life.
(Funda inspired by Badsha / Aye Auto — partly)

Sneaky bast**ds

There are a lot of people who accept their fate and take it lying down. Then there is this special breed who want to beak free from all these limitations, and blow away the fate in speed. If one has to drive fast in Bangalore either he has be on NICE road or need to be riding an autorickshaw. These three wheeled vehicles have an uncanny ability to cut and nip acros even the most ridiculous jams. That reminds me of a joke I hear during my childhood. People used to keep their legs close together while waiting on he road side lest an auto pass through them! (eeks bad one I know!!)
(Funda inspired by real life auto drivers)

Home sick

It is very common that auto drivers refuse to go to a destination we intend to go. We are left at times rudely only to abuse them once they leave the scene. We hardly think what must be going through their minds. May be their home is in the opposite direction and they stand no chance of making a profit even after charging double the metre charge. Or may be he just misses his kids, his wife or may be he just wants to take a nap. It’s night after all just like all of us (BPO staff and air hosteses excluded) everyone wants to get home before mid-night!

Camouflage

Imagine you have an auto with tampered metre, the traffic police won’t let you live in peace and you are bound to get shouted at by almost all your passengers. What would you do? Enroll yourself in one of those prepaid stands of course! When there you don’t have to use your metre and still make a few extra rupees on the metre charge and make a good impression on the police. Once pally with a few policemen he can get away always by showing this proof. Sneaky indeed heh!

Well this is an attempt to empathize with auto drivers in Bangalore who we love to hate ;-)

Zemanta Pixie

Filed under: Bangalore, GTA , , , , , , , , , ,

So how old are you saar?

Yeddyurappa’s (Karnataka Chief Minister) website states he was born on February 27 1943, (so does his wiki page) which means he is more than 60 years old. But if you were to visit his video blog from the same site you will learn that he is 31 years old! Wow finally a true youth leader ruling our state!

Now in case the Vlog is not maintained by Yeddi, instead by some admin, then why bring it under Vijayeekarntaka — the “personal site of Yeddyurappa?”

So what is his real age. Any guess?

UPDATE: Yeddyurappa’s site vijayeekarnataka.com has been taken down (it says under construction.. may be they meant under correction :-D )

Filed under: Bangalore, People, chupchap , , , , , ,

Can I have some privacy pls

Typical debit card transaction machine, branded to McDonalds.

Image via Wikipedia

I got my ATM pin number a week after I got my ING Vysya Maestro Debit Card (salary account) which happens to be the norm. The pin came with a note which stated quite clearly that I keep the pin number to myself and not disclose it to anyone no matter who it is.. mother, girlfriend or he-must-not-be-named who decided to rob me for some weird reason known only to him.

And yes guard the PIN I did, until I came across a new bunch of people. Lets call them IDIOTS (why? Because they were.. duh!!). So what did they do to deserve my wrath.. Its a long tale so read on

Incident 1

Location: PVR Cinemas, Forum Mall

Me: Two tickets for XYZ movie pls

Idiot-1(from across the counter): Would you prefer aisle seats? Back row okay?

Me: Ya thats good. So how much would that be?

Idiot-1: Rs.$^% sir

Me: Okay.. You accept maestro?

Idiot-1:Ya sure.

(I hand over card and he swiped it..)

Idiot-1: What is your PIN sir?

(I give him a blank stare; no not the piercing one)

Me: Why do you want my PIN?

Idiot-1:To enter here sir (points at the swiping machine)

Me: Move the machine here I will enter. I can’t tell you the PIN. I don’t need to tell you either!

Idiot-1:If you don’t tell me I will have to cancel the transaction .. hmm you can pay by cash as well

Me: You are not getting the point. I can type the PIN but I can’t tell you. And I don’t have cash so if you move that machine here I will enter it myself

Idiot-1:The cable is short won’t stretch till there! You will have to tell me or I will have to cancel the transaction

Me: (reluctantly) Sigh Okay its ^*%&

Idiot-1:(Smiles.. that, I had it done my way kinda smile) Thank you sir

Incident 2

Location: Petrol pump

(I don’t have a vehicle, so I was pillion riding my roommates bike and he decided to fill petrol–ya meanwhile, lets call him mojo thats what he calls himself on his blog!)

Mojo: Petrol for 200

Pump guy(Idiot2): hmm

(fill fill fill)

(Mojo hands over debit card — maestro again)

Idiot2 swipes the card enters the money and stares at Mojo, confusion prevails for a few moments until Idiot2 decides he needs to break the news to us “dud-heads.”

Idiot2: saar pin number…

Mojo: eh.. ya give me the machine

He reluctantly hands over the machine I wanted to tell him that it’s nothing worth stealing! Mojo begins to enters the pin and the Idiot2’s eyes are fixed on the machine’s keypad trying to decipher the pin he is entering. mojo stops!

Mojo: What are you doing? Let me type no..

Idiot2: Nothing happens saar. You enter. (He continues to stare)

We didn’t have much option other than to enter the pin and leave the place

OBSERVATIONS

Banks certainly do a lot to teach their customers the value of their PIN numbers and how wrong it is to divulge them. Shouldn’t they be lecturing these shopkeepers/machine holders too to respect others privacy? The sign on the print out slip is not mandatory in Maestro card. So PIN is the sole security feature why should one have to divulge them? Isn’t there any alternative?

Filed under: Bangalore, chupchap , , , , , , ,

Its over.. finally!

A Pakistani bowler playing for a team captain by an Australian pulls an Indian bowler from a team captained by the Indian T20 captain and DLF IPL league has its winners — finally.

What a ride it has been! This whole tournament it captured our imagination (so much that I stopped blogging.. hmm okay it wasn’t just because of IPL!)

Now getting back to my ‘actual’ blog

My bet (an actual bet for Rs 300) was on the Rajasthan Royals, underdogs for most part of the tournament except the finals may be. No particular reason but a ‘logic’ which all my friends refuse to call logic. It goes as follows. No one expected India to win the T20 world cup because we were a team of nobody. No big players, no expectations, for respect for the format, nothing! Next thing you know Indians are T20 champions. I found a similarity here. Rajasthan a team with hardly any ‘popular’ players save the charismatic Shane, the most underestimated team of he tournament. Laughing stock of all bloggers and most offline friends of mine and well they return to haunt other teams and laugh at all those who laughed at them. Warne must be enjoying it for sure!

On a lighter note, Bangalore was the only team that lived up to its expectations. They were criticized to be a test team and stuck to the name through out!

Deccan who seemed to be the strongest turned out to be the worst. Mumbai too had a similar story to say but they have the absence of Bhajji and Sachin during various stages to blame their defeat. Kolkatta started with a bang and finished with a kaboom (self-destruct one). Mohali hmm they tried and tried but never looked good enough. They were in news more because of a cry-baby Sreesanth and ‘huggable’ Preity. Chennai would been the champions if not for the Aussie exodus and yes Rajasthan who were expected to lose all matches won almost all. Not fair I say.

Everyones happy not even Dhoni looked sad. The only person crying at the end of the day (apart from Sreesanth that is) is Kapil Dev. Remember him? The guy who led India to their first world cup victory in ‘83? The guy who played PR for ICL–what did you say? What’s ICL? Hmm let me think.. Indian Crisis League? Am not sure I don’t remember actually!

PS: In case you didn’t notice Bangalore did have a presence at the finals. The match referee was none other than Javagal Srinath. Saving the face of Bengaluru I guess!

PPS: I heard Mallya is watching only F1 these days to get over the highs lows of IPL. He is also thinking of changing his team’s name to something that doesn’t resemble any of his other brands. At least their brand value won’t be affected!

PPPS: Apparently players are requesting Shah Rukh to send one of these sweet messages he used to send to his team through out the tournament, on a daily basis. Apparently they feel they (the messages) will motivate them to win next year.

PPPPS: The previous two were cooked up by me. If you wanna sue me I will declare bankruptcy. The joke will be on you then! =P

PPPPPS: Yes I copied this funda of PS, PPS, PPPS, PPPPS, PPPPPS from a letter Gandalf writes in Lord of the Rings! Tolkien’s not alive so he can’t sue me! =D

PPPPPPS: Now that reminds me. Remember the Rs 300 I mentioned at the beginning of the post. What do you reckon I do with it? Suggestions pls! :-P

Pic credit: GULF NEWS and iclinfo.wordpress.com

Filed under: Bangalore, Cricket, India , , , , , , , , , , , ,

3 people – Different thoughts

Yesterday was long day; in the sense I was up quite early and went to bed quite late. But yesterday was also the day that got me thinking on three different topics, all due to three different kind of people I met.

~~

The first was a woman who was begging near Minerva circle. I have this funda of not offering money to those who beg with a child in their hand. They poke, nudge and do anything that they can, to freak out people sitting in their vehicles to get a rupee or two, with which they supposedly feed the baby. I no longer believe thats the case after reading a story in Bangalore mirror on babies being available for rent in the city for begging! So whenever someone approaches me for money with a baby in their hand, I give them a few biscuit if I happen to have a pack with me.
And I did this time too, only my hand was rudely pushed away!! She didn’t want food for her baby or herself apparently! She just wanted money! Now why does she need money? To pay for the ‘protection’ some local goon is offering her? Does she need this money to patch the roof of the hut she stays in?

~~

I couldn’t shake out the thought of this woman almost the entire day, it remained somewhere in the back of my head, until I reached PvR. I was reminded of an incident that happened to me last week.
I had planned to go for a malayalam movie – Kadha parayumbol – for a long time and it was only that day that I got company. N decided to come along on the promise that I will translate the movie to her (not a mallu u see)!! As I was the first one to reach, I decided to buy tickets for the movie, I decided to buy the tickets from Cinema Europa where the movie was playing.

Me: Got seats for kadha parayumbol?
Man at counter: Yes sir, how many seats do you want
Me: Oh cool, I need two seats pls
Counter: Here is the ticket
Me: I offered him Rs 500 note..
Counter: Here is the change sir.. he gives me back Rs 180. Now, I don’t always count money I get or check if I got the exact change. But this time something though I did and when I did, I realised that the ticket prices were just Rs 300 and he has charged me Rs 320. So I stood there confused trying to understand where the balance 20 went. The guy at the counter saw my expression and immediately shot me a question… “How much did I give you sir?”
Me: You gave me 80!
Counter: Really sorry sir, pls give me 80 I will give back 100
(I did and he did)

Now I was totally confused, if the ticket prices were only 300 why did he charge me 320? Was he trying to make a small profit and did he just play the ’sorry-sir’ role because he felt I was going to protest? Would he have given me 20 bucks back if I hadn’t stood there with a puzzled expression?

This incident happened last week so was easier to put aside for me then… after finishing my work at Forum (which included buying a few moser-baer movie cds) I was off to M G Road and like always I took my favourite ride in the city! Auto rickshaw.

~~

Autos all over south India have a negative aura around them you know. In Kochi auto drivers will demand all the money in you wallet. In Chennai traveling by taxi is cheaper that auto. In Bangalore your experience with auto guys will depends on your bargaining skills and your ability to maaro senti (will blog later abt this)

So today I wanted to go from Forum to Brigade road and surprisingly no one was out bargaining like they would usually. There was a sign of desperation on their faces and I couldn’t figure why, until the driver of the auto I was traveling in got talking.
Apparently there is a shortage of CNG gas in the city (It is compulsory in Bangalore for autos to use CNG, they cannot run on petrol)
Auto: No gas bhaiyya, hum log auto kaise chalayange? I have two three litres left, what after that…..??
Me: Then why are you wasting that too? Why don’t you wait till all other autos run out of gas and run your auto demanding higher rates? (trying to be sarcastic)
Auto: (laughs) Good idea, but if I don’t run auto today, and make some money, who will give me money for a things I need to buy for my family?

I didn’t have an answer to that question. For the first or may be second time in my life, I felt pity for an auto guy in Bangalore. He was a nice chap, he did not speak another word, he just drove well and dropped me at Residency Road – Brigade Road junction. I gave him ten rupee extra on the meter. He did not utter a word still, nor did his expression change. He pocketed the money and waited there for the next customer. In spite of making a few extra rupees, he did not look happy, he still wore a confused expression which made me feel like he was simply playing a prank on me. He did make the extra ten bucks which I would have otherwise not given and that too without any bargaining at all!

So was that senti just a way of making extra money without having to ask for it? Did he actually deserve extra money because he was going through a rough stage?

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