In 2008, I moved from Bangalore (or shall I say, I was uprooted rather forcefully) to Chennai. There were a few things about Chennai that stood out, like the stifling heat (the fact that we decided to move in the blistering month of May, did not help) the palpable stench from the sewers or something, but to be reeeaally honest with you I am sure all of those things were tad exaggerated in my head because of my unwillingness to relocate to Chennai. I’ve been here for 5 years now, and city isn’t THAT bad, it’s a lovely place (there’s a beach here!) AND I’ve met a whole lot of amazing people. But one thing I can’t make up my mind about is how I feel about the Auto-drivers of the city. I have had encounters with plenty of colourful auto drivers during my time in Bangalore (The usual ‘one and half, madam’ rates after 8:30 pm and the rigged meters *yawn*) but all of those auto annas pale in comparison to the ones in Chennai, and I HAVE to admit, these guys are quite savvy.
Now, when I say,‘savvy’ there are two distinct types, one of the unscrupulous variety and the other of the progressive variety. Before I can go on to explain how you can spot the two strains of auto-drivers, let me shed some light into what the autorikshaw ecosystem is like in Chennai.
Successive Governments in Tamil Nadu haven’t been able to regulate the highly unregulated autorikshaw sector. The fare is never by the meter and an arbitrary rate is fixed by the auto-driver which is, most times, ATLEAST 5 times more than what it would be by the meter. Recently the Supreme Court directed the Government of Tamil Nadu to fix new autorikshaw fares by the end of August, 2013! So let’s see how that goes. *fingers crossed*
An Autorikshaw.
The hallmarks of the unscrupulous variety are as follows;
- “What Madam??! You are rich, < insert a ridiculously extortionate price> will not make any difference”.All this will be delivered with utmost feeling, tears threatening to spring at any moment. An amateur would most definitely succumb to this little performance. It’s usually the middle-aged auto drivers who employ this clever ruse.
- NEVER try to catch an auto at what seems like an Auto Stand, unless being ripped-off is something you enjoy. Getting a decent fare at an auto stand is twice hard as hailing one off the road. And the most annoying part is, if at the auto stand you do manage to haggle your way into getting a decent fare from one auto driver, that auto driver will provoke the ire of the others and a fight ensues, and you are back where you started.
- Chennai is home to a unique contraption called, the ‘Share auto’,as the name suggests you essentially share an auto with 13 other people in a tiny crawl space.(Yes, it qualifies as a safety hazard) This mode of conveyance is quite popular because it is cheap, but the downside is that, when you get off the share auto, you are rather disheveled and disoriented. Almost all the share autos I’ve travelled in have been driven by drivers who have mad skills, they can make the sharpest swerves and weave precariously through traffic, without breaking a sweat. I am shit scared of traveling in these conduits from hell.
A share auto in all it’s glory.
- Then there are those, with whom you’ve negotiated and brought the fare down to a respectable rate and you get into the auto. Halfway to the destination the auto mysteriously develops a technical snag, so he parks it on the curb and starts tinkering with it but to no avail. You have no option but to get off and look for another auto, at which point the auto driver gently reminds you that you’ve to pay him. Of course, and you ask him how much, (you’d think ah! Half price), but NOOO! he demands you pay the entire fare. (This has happened to me twice)
The hallmarks of the endearing progressive variety;
- These chaps are good-natured and they are very reasonable when it comes to quoting fares.
- There is this popular auto-driver that my cousin was raving about the other day, he goes by the name Samson (The auto driver, not my cousin). This guy is amazingly friendly, he has his own website where out-of- town’ers can book his auto he also doubles up as a tour guide. How awesome is that! I’ve left a link to his page.
http://tuktastic.com/chennai.htm
- Here’s a share auto driver who has been making waves recently, his name is Annadurai. You will not believe the sort of services he offers in his share auto. Here’s the list-free WiFi, mobile charging ports, 35 magazines, 10 newspapers, a TV and a Samsung Galaxy tablet to access Internet (in case you don’t have a smart phone).If that didn’t inspire awe in you (that’d be really odd, you might want to get a chromosomal analysis performed) you should take a look at the discounts Annadurai offers: Mother’s Day – Free rides for mothers with their children,Women’s Day – Free rides for women over the age of 50; Children’s Day – Free rides for school students; Father’s Day – Free for men over the age of 45; Abdul Kalam’s birthday – Rides at 50 per cent off for all customers; Independence Day – Free rides for anyone born before 1947; Annadurai’s birthday – 50 per cent off on rides for all customers.Annadurai is such an enterprising man! He is committed to ensuring customer satisfaction and it is paying off because people actually wait for his auto every morning. Even though Annadurai spends around 5,000 bucks a month(this includes subscriptions to magazines) to give his customers an auto ride like no other in the city, he makes a cool profit, earning 1,000 bucks a day.
I just wish there’d be more guys like Samson and Annadurai, who’d make commuting by autos an enjoyable experience. I don’t want to be dabbing war paint on every time I have got an auto to catch!
BABBLE 