Saturday, September 5, 2009

Autos in Bangalore (and everywhere else)

A friend once said to me: Change is inevitable, except from auto drivers.

There is but one incident to prove him wrong, and I only have my great bargaining (slash arguing) skills to blame for it. This was when the meter changed from the Rs.12 meter to the Rs.14 meter in Bangalore, and all autos were being made to convert to using LPG rather than petrol.
Now, the thing to remember here is - I had a car that ran on LPG. And I knew that the difference between prices of LPG and petrol were huge. Autos were still running on the meter that charged passengers according to the rates they would've charged if they were running on petrol. Petrol was Rs.51 per litre and LPG was Rs.35 per litre. Makes a big difference to the pocket doesnt it?

With this background in mind, I shall proceed to tell you of my successful (oh multiple times, you just need to know how to argue) story.

[Please note: conversation was in Kannada, so if you find slangs here you cannot understand, you will find the translation at the bottom (its not as funny when its not in Kannada)]

(From MG Road to commercial street by Rs.12 meter was I think about 17 bucks, and by the Rs.14 meter, about 20 bucks - pretty much minimum)

Me: Commercial street hogtira?
Autoguy: Hoon, banni. Meter mele twonty rupees kodi
Me: Yake? Minimum aagatte tane?
Autoguy: Aitu matte fifteen rupees extra
Me: Irli bidi, hogi nivu
Autoguy: Yake, swolpa extra ashte keliddu. Nim ishta!
Me: (here we go)
Yen swolpa extra? Meter 12 rupees starting inda 14 rupees starting aagide tane? Matte, nivu LPG mele odstaidira, petrol mele alla. Andre one litre-ige 51 rupees bagge 35 rupees aagatte alva? Extra yenikke heli? Nimage profit eegle aagtaide tane? Sume extra extra ante bekishtu kelbedi. Nam hatra nu kaas kadime. Heli - bartira? Meter haaki.
Autoguy: (looks zapped) Aitu medam, banni. Ishtondu kashta patti neevu hadinaidu rupai kadime kodtira ! Appah!
Me: Yellarinda hadinaidu rupai extra tagontira, matte? Yellaru nimmige idella heltara? Nan ashte...
Autoguy: Aitu medam banni kutgoli. Commercial street alva? Banni.
Me: Banni. Thanks!

Translation:

Me: Commercial street, you'll come?
Autoguy: Yes, come. Give me twenty bucks on the meter
Me: Why? It's minimum isn't it?
Autoguy: Ok then, fifteen bucks extra
Me: It's ok, leave it, you go
Autoguy: Why, I asked only for a little extra. Your choice!
Me: (here we go)
What little extra? The meter now starts from Rs.14 and not Rs.12 anymore right? And, you're running on LPG now, not on petrol. That means you're paying 35 bucks per litre instead of 51 bucks per litre right? What's the extra for, tell me? You're making a profit even now right? Simply you don't ask for extra. I also have very little money. Tell me - you'll come? Turn on the meter.
Autoguy: (looks zapped) Ok medam, come. So much effort in fighting to pay fifteen bucks less ! Father (as word indicative of frustration)!
Me: You take fifteen bucks extra from everyone then, huh? Everyone doesn't say this to you right? Only I...
Autoguy: OK medam come, sit. Commercial street right? Come.
Me: Come. Thanks!


:) And so for once, I got the autoguy to go from one point to the other with the price on the meter.

Hurrah! :)

2 comments:

Black Swan said...

I'm gonna SO use this! No one comes from Majestic to my house in Rajajinagar for the min. Always ask for Rs. 80 or even Rs. 100!

Ricky Jacob said...

Saw this post now wonlee.. And boy when I think of Auto + Kannada in B'lore, al that comes to my mind was when we got into this auto after asking if he'd take us to college.. And my friend sits and is like - 'Hogo le'.. He meant to say lets go to the auto guy.. Should have seen the auto guy's face..
This is what happens if a Mallu boy speaks in Kannada.. :P

 
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