From face book: A friend wrote on his wall, ‘Getting rickshaw in Mumbai rains - is priceless’. I have no reason not to see eye to eye or concur since I am also one of the pained inhabitant of ‘Maximum City’ who does not drive her car but go for rickshaws instead!
Time is a continuum. I came to Mumbai last December…rickshaws were so readily available then. I came from Pune and I knew how difficult it is to find it, go for it and genuinely pay for it. It was until I came to Mumbai and learnt that rickshaw-wallahs are very just, they shall take what the meters read…not a dime extra. Well, the just rik-fellow seems to have metamorphosed from the naïve Alabama cotton-picker to barbaric money lenders of Jamindari period.
It was one of the days in Mumbai when I was on a hunt for a rickshaw which could drop me to my destination. The office errands are way too much to trouble you and then not finding damn rickshaws after standing for hours adds insult to injury. My miserable mood grew sloppy big when it started to rain too. Ah! Can someone buy me an idyllic life in Mumbai?
After waiting for something like ages and making valiant efforts, I was mighty relaxed when one agreed to go. That was a rickety rickshaw which had booming stereos. He reminded me of rickshaw rides in Delhi, when we would reject a rickshaw because he didn’t play FM/ or had no stereo. Back then the noise never bothered me. My friends and I would enjoy the thumping… Seems the noise of the city has ripened my soul enough to abandon pulse-throbs.
I surreptitiously looked at the rickshaw driver in the mirror. If you ask me why, I have no concrete answer except for could be I have to identify him somewhere again, has he taken me before in his vehicle, is he drunk, etc etc…I think every rickshaw-wallah has noticed this and therefore drives more rash, making the rides bumpy and irksome.
This rickshaw-wallah rode hastily in rhapsody like he was asked to gorge on an unlimited buffet which would stand null and void if he didn’t finish it in five minutes. I had clung on to my bag and gingerly kept my phone in the compartment. My things quivered like flying maggots in frying pan. I fathomed it could be his usual style of driving from the scratches on the upholstery. I also hoped the meter was not rigged insanely. The loud song (in some language, I could not unearth) was grotesque. Yet I sailed through the cyclonic ordeal. I tried to concentrate on the people creeping like insects, vehicles honking like starving hyenas and reeking spouts of water from open drain (I see no difference in the natural smell of Mumbai and a stinking canal; everything smells the same in Mumbai). The auto-fellow paid tender curtsy to every pothole on the road making the rides more jarring. I struggled to overlook distress and transfix in everything around till I finished the roller coaster ride.
3 comments:
ha ha..atleast better than Bangalore..when the first time I came here I saw the stark difference in the attitude of rickshaw wallah..there they always ask 20 rupees extra even for the shortest distance you want to cover so I was used to that habit of saying Bhaiya extra 20 rupees le lena..but since the time I came here I stopped telling that coz it might ruin the culture here..no matter what even if have to walk few extra miles but I never say That I'll give you extra money..culture is everything you know..
:D I know Mumbai is better in that regards... I just hope the situation gets better. It is a pain to find riks in andheri post 6 pm
Enjoyed reading post.
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