A Special Breed

So, I was travelling in an auto the other day, when I started thinking about the importance of autos in our lives and what interesting characters these auto-drivers are.

Auto drivers belong to a totally different breed, who show as much interest in their job as I show in politics, which is minimal to say the least. These guys carry over 100  people every day, to different places in the city, but will never have five Rupees change. The auto drivers are the kings of the road; they ride on footpaths, they spit wherever they want, and choose their passengers. Trust me, getting rejected by an auto driver is not a nice experience, but not half as bad as trying to hail down an auto ,only to find it already has an occupant!! In all the times I have traveled by auto, not once have I seen an auto driver admit to a mistake on the road, insulting and mouthing off the driver of the car he has hit seems a better option. When you are travelling in an auto, and he breaks a traffic rule to save time, you bless him, but if the same thing is done when you are sharing the road with him, he is cursed to no extent

Auto drivers are in fact very aware citizens ,and form an integral part of our society. This summer, I went to Delhi, for a week and used the autos extensively to get around the city. One thing that struck me was how up to date the auto drivers were with the whole political scenario , and were up to date with all the ongoing's in the Government. My parents had a good 20 minute discussion with one auto driver about whether a "Modi Sarkaar" would be formed or not, and he was just as knowledgeable as any of us, and raised points that were more relevant than the ones raised by the panelists on the Newshour debate. These guys were very sure they were going to vote and who they wanted to vote for, and their vote wasn't based on past achievements of the party. This other time when we came across a monument in the city and didn't know what it was, the auto guy told what exactly it was, when it was built and who built it.

Over the years, I have had many interesting experiences . There was this one time when I had to go buy some materials for a school project, and by the time I started to head home the Sun had set. After much difficulty I got an auto that was ready to take me home for a reasonable price . Next thing I know he takes a detour saying he needs to pick up someone, and says he will drop me immediately after that, and a minute later I have an unknown lady sitting next to me, and to make things worse, she starts to cry. That useless auto driver didn't even drop me home, he made me walk the last 50 meters home and took the same amount of money. This other time when the driver refused to take my 10 rupee note because there was a small pen mark on the corner of the note and I had to negotiate with him for nearly 15 minutes.

These guys never follow the meter, listen to loud music on their radios,  never clean their auto and basically live life on their own terms, and don't care what others think. But in the end , without them we cannot survive. This idea to write about autos' came to me when travelling in one, and I had collected all my thoughts by the time I neared home, when suddenly the auto was brought to a screeching halt, sending my thoughts in frenzy, my father and I shared a quizzical look, and the driver turned around with a mischievous grin spread across his face and raised his little finger, and went to the wall near the road and did his "job". Just when I thought I had seen everything about auto drivers!!