Rick Sick?

It’s a funny condition.
I don’t know if the world has discovered and termed it yet. I go through it painfully almost every day of my life and in my neologism it would be “rick-o-phobia”!
I cannot tell you how much I abhor that clan of licensed looters.
The auto rickshaw industry in Bangalore is a thriving one.
The auto rickshaw is like a monster on wheels with a monster at the wheel!
So every now, and then I find myself at the mercy of the much loved autowallah.
The most popular philosophy among auto drivers in Bangalore is that double meter is their birth right!
Double meter applies at the following times;
Early in the morning,
Late at night,
During the drizzles and rains,
You are more than three unfortunate souls,
Your house is too far,
Your house is too near,
Your house route has a one way,
There is too much traffic in your part of town,
And at other times it’s simply “double meter” because he doesn’t like your face!
(Sigh. How I wish we occasionally had double meters at our work place too!)
So you pretty much end up paying this much just about every time you have the misfortune of taking an auto and if he doesn’t demand double meter you can be well assured that this is the classic case of a faulty meter rick.
As if to make us feel any better, they have a consolation prize in the form of one-and-a-half meter.
I could buy myself a handbag every month with the money I over-pay the autowallah’s above the actual fare. Sigh.
God forbid you are one of those unfortunate souls who crawl to work with a laptop-you can actually go by the concept of a triple meter!
They love IT guys and the assumption is that all laptop clad people are fleece-able members of the IT fraternity.
Come to think of it an auto actually determines how your day goes.
A fight with the auto driver first thing in the morning is not the most ideal way to kick start your day!
Abuses flying your way in a language you barely understand right on the middle of the main road, bang opposite your office.
Aha-Not a pretty sight...ask me…
Through the elevator ride up the seventh floor, I’m thinking of one of those nightmarish forwards about the auto driver attacking some lady who threatened to complain about him!
Paranoia should have been my middle name!
On the contrary if you happen to have the good fortune of meeting a decent auto-wallah (an absolute rarity in our silicon valley) that would pretty much make ones day.
I remember the time an auto driver had come back all the way to return my friends phone that she had forgotten in an auto or even the times an auto driver returns the exact change back to you.
Exceptions do apply to every rule!
Here is some informative info for all you auto goers;
I happened to stumble across this article sometime back which gave numbers where one can lodge complaints against misbehaving auto drivers,
Bangalore Centre:080-25533525
Bangalore West:080-23324388
Bangalore East:080-25253726
Bangalore North:080-23376039
Bangalore South:080-26630989
So the next time you're stranded, cheated or ill treated just buzz one of these numbers and let me know if it actually works :)
And start saving up towards that car/bike that will steer you away from mercy of the ruthless auto drivers of Bangalore!
A few of us get the better of the autowallah’s like one of my friends, Anu. She never gets a rick to Domlur from Airport road as its just 2 kms away (Well! Walking is not her forte.), so this is what she does every single day…
She tells them she wants to go to a destination further away and while they are passing through Domlur she has an unexpected emergency and so she gets off at her real destination paying him the exact fare. So there we go, there are ways to beat the system!
As for me, I moved to a place close to work, I walk to work these days-that’s my short term plan.
And my long term plan-well, I’m getting married in a few months…that should solve the problem. (Wink! Wink!)