The Mysterious Psyche Of A Delhi Auto Driver

Female rickshaw driver in Delhi in poll bid

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/indiaelections/2009/05/2009591235640374.html

I so so agree with you on the second one.My area gets the most number of these types."Waha se sawari nahi milti" and I end up arguing saying"If they get a passenger would they give me 50% of the earning?" which amuses some and doesn't leave an impact on some and some relent.

By the way,this 5th type.Do you have phone numbers or something of these?I sure would like to use them! I haven't come across any of these types! EVER!

these types of drivers are not particular to delhi... the same categories exist in bangalore as well. I did not even bother going to the auto stand near my house because they would either refuse to come off break or refuse to go where I wanted. then I had to contend with the "oh she is a firang, I can really take her for a ride".... they would always quote me 5 times the price until I cussed them in kannada and told them to turn on the meter (or quoted the actual fare to my destination).

Thanks for reading everyone :)

Tanuj, as I said these guys are a minority, slowly on the verge of extinction, ie before they become as corrupt as the others :) We could sure do with more of these guys :)

Type 5 comes with a catch- if they are too eager to turn on the meter, odds are that the meter has been tampered with to inflate the fare.

You didn't mention tampered meters in this article. Does Delhi not have mechanical meters at all?

A ha Ledzius, No matter how comfortable it is to deal with type five, I keep a very sharp eye on their meter. And if I happen to suspect anything fishy, well they've had it then.

Mumbai has only type 2 (but they dont make a sorry face) or type 5.

What you could try is offering to pay Rs.5, or Rs.10 more than the final meter reading. They invariably agree, even if they have just told you that their meter doesn't work.
This way it's a win-win situation on both sides.
The Auto-trickshaw, I mean Rikshaw drivers can be manipulated by the passengers to an extent. Good luck!

Fantastic analysis!! Autowalas all over India are like that.

In Bangalore, they drive towards you, you mention your location and then without uttering a word, they drive away.....weird lot. They are also generally sensitive to non-kannada speakers.....Unlike Delhi, Bangalore autowalas are also more likely to pick-up a physical fight (3 tims in 3 years, none in Delhi in 6 years)

That way, Mumbai auto guys are a lot better. They drive less crazily, donot overcharge you too much and are generally polite (return change).

Chandra,I agree with you about Bombay auto drivers. I'm yet to come across more polite drivers than them. They are honest, and return change.I remember a Bombay auto driver returning me fifty paise as change. WOW, I was so touched my his honesty :)And yet, though I love the city of Bangalore immensely, I think the auto drivers there just wait to rip off passengers and yes they can be rude of what I've experienced.

I guess you guys have not dealt with the Chennai auto rickshaw mafia! The worst of the lot.

A friend and I were accosted by one such specimen at the Railway station. This tout picks up our baggage, unsolicited, and puts it in his auto.

So we get in and the guy does not turn his meter on. One minute goes by.

"Hey, you have not turned your meter on!". No response. Its as if we are talking to a zombie.

Two minutes go by. Three minutes. Four minutes. No meter.

Friend: "Oi, you have not turned your meter on".

Auto: "Seventy five rupees, sir".

Friend: "Just turn the meter on".

Auto: "I have to go to all the way to Nugambakkam, sir."

Friend: "Stop."

Auto: "Fifty rupees."

Friend: "I SAID STOP, bhenchod!". Then some expletives directed at Tamilians.

I think the auto driver understood.

He then stops his rickshaw at the auto stand. And all the autowallas gather around us. They start getting aggressive.

I intervene. "Take us back to the station where we got in or lets call the cops and settle this".

Then they all agree. "Yes, take them back to the railway station".

So its settled. We are on our way back to the railway station. He is going through an alleyway. Its deserted.

THWACK!!! Auto driver's head ricochets. My friend has just hit him on the back of his head and the auto loses control momentarily and comes to a winding halt.

The driver turns back and looks at us, shocked!

POW! Another punch. This time right between his ears which makes him disoriented for a few seconds.

Meanwhile expletives directed at the auto drivers, Tamilians, TN, Chennai, Karunanidhi, etc keep pouring out like the Shinkansin of my friend's mouth, .

As I am trying to calm my friend, he keeps getting angrier and keeps raining blows on the bewildered auto driver.

The driver's shirt is torn. His vest is ripped. Hair disheveled. I swear, I could even see a Cong(I) hand imprinted on his left cheek!

Now the driver gathers himself. "Lets go to the police station". Like an angry bee his auto takes off to the thana.

All three of us enter the station. A constable asks us whats going on. The guy keeps yammering in Tamil.

I can understand some of it. Something about us being crazy and the our(friend's actually) expletives directed at Tamilians.

It doesn't look good as this unkempt cop gives us a mean look, as if its comeuppance time.

Then some more waiting. Now I have got my books about Jiddu Krishnamurthy and Sai Baba out of my bag.

Well, they were actually meant for the people we were visiting. But just in case, the books come out. Better to project good impression about ourselves. We were the pacifists who read J Krishnamurthy.

My friend is meanwhile fidgeting with his military ID and the telephone number of his CO's batch mate in Chennai.

Senior constable walks in. This guy looks decent. He talks well and at once he could sense we were outsiders who were being hoodwinked by the auto rickshaw driver.

When he sees my friends military ID, he even more sympathetic. Then he says, "Sir, even though you are within your rights to get angry, you have still hit him. So why don't you settle the fare for fifty rupees and forget the matter?"

We all agree.

Then he gives a stern warning to the autodriver, takes down all his details and explains to him that he better drop us off at the our destination.

This driver is now so disoriented, he loses his way and gives us free tour of the city. Over hundred bucks of fuel spent by the time we got to our destination.

Best fifty bucks spent on entertainment. That too with a ringside seat!

Kaizer_Soze:WOW! That was an interesting episode. I couldn't stop laughing. Chennai auto drivers are sure an interesting lot, and I though the Delhi guys were bad! :)

Kaiser_Soze, funny! this could have been a nice article - a sequel to Maryann's original piece!

Maryann: taking auto-rickshaws, not the Metro?!

Commonsense: I get asked this question a lot, but to start with the metro is yet to cover the entire city, and then it's not always convenient!

re: the Metro not yet covering the entire metro...but it will. what a "god"-send it is. thanks mr. shreedharan!

How safe are the autos?

Two women charred to death as auto catches fire
after gas leak.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/2-women-dead-as-auto-catches-fire/articleshow/4528273.cms