Monday, August 3, 2009

Missed my car?... Unn Not really!!

Today I was carless. It was quite unusual as I am now addicted to self-driving to office. But the car needed service badly. So today, Darshit planned to drop me half way in car and then drop the car to service station. As planned we started on our way to our respective offices (my office is further down...). I decided to get down at Marathahalli and then take public transport to office. As soon as I got out of the car, I was relieved to see an auto-rickshaw slowing down for me in that heavy, choked traffic. I went upto the auto and told 'SAP'. To which he replied '70Rs'. I couldn't control. I pointed the meter on the auto and asked him - 'Meter pe kitna' (how much using meter?). He didn't bother to reply and moved on!!! I couldn't believe the indifferent attitude of the auto driver! The next moment, I got a bus and reached office in 15Rs!

That eve on my way back home, I had already decided to not to go in auto which does not use meter for charging. I was happy as I boarded a bus immediately. But... I later found out that it was not going till my place. I had to get down 3-4 kms away from my house. I was left with not much choice but to check auto-rickshaw. So I asked one auto-driver, who again reminded me of the morning experience. I couldn't believe him!! All of them were the same. Nobody wanted to use meter for charging and everybody just wanted to charge triple the actual amount!

I was not ready to give in. Why should I? I was not lame. Rather I always keep discussing in office about gym and treadmill exercises. And this was the perfect chance. People boast of running 5-8kms on treadmill and here I was.. just 3-4kms from my house. I started. As I was walking, I noticed so many colorful shops, I noticed children running past me... enjoying their post-school hours, I noticed huge green trees on both the sides of the road bowing to form arches, I noticed people walking briskly in the garden. I was excited to notice a different life on the same road. I have been using this route for years now and had never noticed anything other than the potholed road. And this time I could see people running/walking in the garden and I was walking outside the garden on the pavement!! I laughed at myself! I was contend... and now hungry too. I was about to reach my house when I saw a pani puri vala. Ah.. I can never resist pani puri in my life! I stopped and savored every bit of it! I had saved enough money for the pani puri :) Needless to say.. this pani puri was the yummiest :)

14 comments:

Mohan said...

Autowala's in Bangalore are lot better than those in other parts of the country. I wish you had noted those auto's number plates and informed police. No, you don't need to go visit them personally, you can login to bangaloretrafficpolice.gov.in and lodge your complaint.

With this at least you could have saved another 'Vineeta' from such bad drivers. Anyways.. experience teaches us a lesson while we get to feel that life is more beautiful when deviated from routine!

Vineeta said...

@Mohan: Thanks for the info. I was quite shocked to see all of them behaving the same!! Next time.. I m sure gonna note the numbers.

Brijesh Gajera said...

You see now why I love running and cycling so much? It's the road, the things you notice on the way - the trees, the people. The life is not fast, but more enjoyable that way :))

Srini said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SimplySanjay said...

Nobody had any good tales to tell about them. Very sick people!! You should be grateful that you saw the vibrant neighbourhood when on foot.

Srini said...

Very thought provoking .. Now this blog includes so many dimensions that my comment it self can be another blog .. :)

There are 2 major dimensions here:
1) Indifferent attitude of auto drivers who changed your perception about auto drivers permanently (for worse). Now every time u call an auto, u expect 70 Rs reply otherwise u will be surprised.

2)People who boast of running 5-8kms on treadmill changed your perception positively. You appreciated the 3-4 kms walk which is a good excercise no doubt. On top of it, u discovered colorful shops, happy children, huge green trees bowing to form arches, brisk walking people, different kind of life [sounds scary .. :) ], pani porri vala etc .. Really nice .. :)

On a serious note, especially in and around whitefield these auto drivers are notorious and charge what ever they feel like ...

Netra said...

wow..a beautiful post... (excluding the exp with the auto drivers :))
I too had a similar exp, while I walked back hom from my bus stop. I felt the same as you did. The noticed many things on the same road and I was surprised :)

Yogesh Goel said...

saving of Rs.55/- means a dominos pan-pizza..
good...
we need to think over this...
and do what u have done....

great going...

Yogesh
ygoel.com

Anny said...

sometimes it good to miss car... you will notice so many things around and makes you feel so good....

Bharathi said...

nice positive attitude.

Vipul Grover said...

tht was a nice swades moment indeed :)
saved enough money for the pani puri - and thts the best part of it.. lol
its so true.. last year due 2 sum reason i was very stressed. Wn i wnt 4 a evning walk, i jus decidd 2 keep walking (yup somewhat inspired by Forest Gump but not 2 tht xtnt ofcourse).. I kind of covrd 10-12 kms or evn more(I normally walkd 3 kms).. moving thru diffrnt parks, gardens, road, streets,nd 2wards d end evn puddles where hd a bad fall.. seeing evry kind of thing i hd nvr noticd earlier passing thru same places on a vehicle.. wn reachd home was all dirty nd cramped bt sum how felt so relievd as nvr b4:)

Gandalf said...

A bad experienced left a little good taste in your day!

Prashansa said...

Yes it is a common experience! I live in Pune (Maharashtra) and I have the same experiance!! I use two wheelar here as there is a parking problem!

Nova said...

Its too late to say that now, but Welcome to the REAL BANGALOORU my dear!!