"20 rupees extra madam..." ???

HELLO WORLD!!!
My first words in the virtual space....
Yes.. It was the output of our first programs too written in BASIC, PASCAL, C etc etc
etc...
Surprisingly, but not so surprisingly, it seemed quite appropriate here too!!!
OK.. enough PJing... hope this article will be read further ahead too...

Again, late but not soooo late posting... The blog still exists!!! :D
(Repeating:- Better Later Than Never!!! )
I always thought its better we wrote on some matter that we knew about quite a lot, or even better, what we have experienced... so that it comes out not as a movie script... but more as an issue/problem that needs to be thought about and dealt with appropriately n I never felt "qualified" enough as these other guys to comment/write on the serous issues discussed. I finally felt today, I could write on something.... infact I should... whatever be the outcome...
What inspired me to do what I am doing now is what happened today mornin... n whats been happening for quite some time now (sadly)...

I miss my 7:20 AM Volvo.... Not sure if I missed it because I was 2 minutes late... or because the driver wasn't in a mood to wait...
After waiting for more than 45 mins, (BTW, the Volvo Buses are supposed to come every half-hour, 30-earth-minutes...), took an auto till silk-board, in hopes to find another reasonably empty bus. But the buses at Silkboard again were not in a "boardable" state... (By boardable... i dont necessarily mean even sit... a reasonable place to rest both my feet wud be good enough...)
Again, after looking at my watch for 50 times in 2 mins pushed me to another auto guy... asked him if he wud take me to the destination... the response:
AUTO GUY: "OK... 20 rupees extra"
ME: "WHY???"
He just shakes his shoulder and nods head...

I walked off in fury... to another set of auto guys... again, the same response...n the reason they give... are not new to anyone who is reading this I am sure...
"Allinda khali barbeku madam..." which translates to "We must come back empty from there..." (Oh yeah??? May be we should charge extra we we r on bench @ ofc...)
"You are IT people madam..." (What??????)
The next auto guy thankfully took me to the destination without an unpleasant word or expression... inspite of the Marathon Monday Morning Traffic... in the end... I paid him 6 bucks extra... just becoz he returned even the last buck change he
is supposed to...
My friends who aren't from here, kept tellin me about the sad state of autos in B'lore.. but I never really understood them.... until after my recent trip to Mumbai...
Now, I got some thing else to compare them with... :)
There are times when those demanding auto guys are taken to the police... and not much help if offered... infact they are mostly backed by everyone... "Afterall 20 rupees na sir... It is nothing big for you.." (NEVER MIND!!!!)
After that, I realized how much we so-called "IT" people (This term enrages me as much as the term "Bollywood enrages Aamir Khan") are literally harassed...
This, by-the-way has been happenning for quite some time now... before and after the auto price hikes... n ofcourse not only to me..
Infact it has sadly become a common topic of discussion @ cofi and lunch at
office... "How I dealt with the auto guy today..."
There was in-fact even a Citizen Journalist report on CNN-IBN about this issue recently... This made me realize how big of an issue this must be...
It is always believed that you shouldn't act in a state of extreme emotions.... (n for a good reason... I am sure :D )
But there are times... when you have to act at the moment.... So.. here is my act.... a virtual act tho'...
This is an almost everyday issue we face.... and I have some simple questions I ask myself when I face these situations... (m sure all of us do... )
- Can I call it a social issue?
- How can I deal with this problem?
- Are the reasons these guys give (even remotely) reasonable enough???( Trust me...n Call me crazy if you wish... I have stood n argued about this to auto guys
themselves... )
I believe every problem has a solution (Like all of us do...)
And this is a problem... for which I realized, I cannot find the solution alone...
It would be great if people suggested the actions that needed to be taken...
What I am going to do next?
- Ofcourse, eagerly await for suggestions...
- I will too try to look into this Citizen Journalist forum... I even save the web-page as a Favorite site now... :)
- Will try n approach one of the police stations... n try talking to one of them.... Will update this article then....
So long fellas.... :)