Running away

Couple of weeks ago I decided auto to office as I had to go there really early, around 6:30-ish. Normal rates from my house to my office in an auto is around 120-130 rupees without running the meter. And no one is ready to take the auto with the meter on for long distances. OK, its not that far, hardly 14 kms or so, but the size of town in which I live in, its really, really far!
Anyway, I hailed an auto and asked him for the price. Its kind of formality that one has here. In these kinds of conversation the driver asks for a price which is almost twice the amount of normal fare. If the customer is a local, then he/she will argue, crib and bitch and finally the auto wallahs give up and agree up on a decent fare. The answer I got from the auto guy is the first time I have ever heard in my life.

Auto wallah: Madam, if I run meter, the fare will come to 90 rupees. But looking at you, going to "that" company, carrying a laptop, I think its fair on my part to ask you to give me 120 rupees.
Me: Why additional 30 rupees? You know I work as hard as you to earn money.
Auto wallah: Its not that madam. See your company is so far. Its high risk for me to go there at this hour when I know for sure that I don't get any return customers. So to get at least people who can afford to take an auto, I have to travel back five to six kilometers without any customers. So this additional money is like back up for me.

After listening to this I got in to that auto. I have always loved traveling in auto and I think its the best vehicle around. OK, I know 99% of the population thinks otherwise but I find it very fascinating to travel in auto.

Me: Do you give this reasoning to everyone who takes your auto?
Auto wallah: No madam. I tell this to people who will listen and to whom I think might understand my point of view.
Me: How did you know that I will get into your auto even after you told me that you are going to charge me extra?
Auto wallah: Its in your face. And besides you smiled when I said I am charging you extra.
Me: What do you see in my face?
Auto wallah: You like honest thieves. At this, he grinned at me. I smiled back.
Auto wallah: You know madam, once I rigged this auto meter and made more money than I am making now. But somehow I always felt that money made that way somehow seemed to get spent on unnecessary things. In the end, even after driving around the city for hours and making good money, end of the day accounts did not reflect that. So I decided to get clean and started living a honest life.
Me: Do you make good money now?
Auto wallah: Of course not. But I seem to manage whatever I earn very well. I am not leading a lavish life but a contended one.
Me: Are you happy then?
Auto wallah: We can be happy whenever we want madam. But we put so many rules and predetermined expectations that we validate those things before accepting our state of mind being "happy" or "sad". Now I am telling you that I am charging you extra fare. After this every customer has a choice. If they agree to my fare, then its a very fair and square deal. Isn't it?
Me: Perhaps. I don't know. Even you had a choice for not asking me for extra money.

We were hardly couple of kilometers from my office campus and on the way there are many small scale industries. There were many young women walking briskly.

Auto wallah: You see these ladies madam? If they were to ask me to drop them, I will mostly do it for free or charge them very less, depending on the distance. But for people like you, I don't feel a twinge of guilt in asking more.

He said this quite frankly. I didn't know what to make of it.

Me: Isn't that biased?
Auto wallah: Of course it is. Bias is there everywhere in every aspect of life. You can afford 30 rupees and perhaps forget about the entire conversation as soon as you enter your campus gate. Or you might crib about over priced auto fares in AC rooms amidst your friends. But these ladies who are briskly walking, they remember me, my face and they will ask my name and thank me heartily.

We had reached my office by then.

Me: Thank you.
Auto wallah: For what?
Me: For your words, of course.
Auto wallah: Oh. But I can bet my auto on this: you are going to forget my face in next one hour. Maybe not this conversation, not right away at least.
Me: Maybe
Auto wallah: Good Luck Madam?
Me: For what?
Auto wallah: For everything!

He laughed and drove away.

I think he is right. One day, I am going to forget this tiny conversation I had with a man whom I don't think I will ever meet again. And if I do meet him, I might not recognize him.
Somehow, that thought makes me sad.

Labels: Auto, Slice of life

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