Well... William Congreve said, "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned" and that's pretty well-said, I guess.
The last couple of days in Bangalore have been pretty disgusting, actually. (Except my awesome office.. )
Auto-wallahs and shopkeepers seem to have taken it upon themselves to make life miserable. Sample some of my experiences today:
Me to auto driver: Indiranagar?
Auto driver: Sure!
Me: How much?
Auto driver: Whatever is a just charge, you pay...
(*the reasonable charge is 25/-)
Me: (thinking) Wow, finally a nice, old man..who seems reasonable...
Auto driver: You decide.... 40/- or 50/-
Me: :O WTF!!
That adventure over, I reached home in a bus later. Then, I decided to purchase a (pirated) copy of some software that I needed for my crashed laptop.
Me to cyber-cafe owner: I need a copy of XYZ software.
Owner: 200/-
Me: :O Thanks, I don't need it.
Owner: How much do you think it costs?
Me: In Delhi, I bought it for 50/-
Owner: This is not Delhi, buddy.
Me: Unfortunately for me, and fortunately for you, that's true...
I've never believed in the famous North-South divide and always liked to maintain that it is a myth. I always thought that people made it up to cover their bigotry. But sadly, I think I stand corrected. There are people here who try to fleece you the moment they realise that you don't speak the local language. Of course, these stupid bigots may be few and far between. But then, they are the ones responsible for the regionalism dominating our country today. And yes, if they exist here, they definitely do exist up North too.
I just hope they learn the concept of unity and integration soon enough.
The experience of an amazing workplace and a nice city is being sullied because of some moronic creatures.
P.S. Ironically enough... I work for a team called 'OneIndia' at Microsoft. :)
10 comments:
Don't accuse the poor auto-wallahs of creating a divide. they are one breed and believe in a common principle- fleecing! and they shall fleece left, right and center. dont know abt down south, but in delhi they fleece anyone n everyone. age, race, sex or place of origin no bar ;)
Come to think of it, they are the ones who are representing true unity :) of all the auto wallahs of India...in fleecing
Bangalore is that way too? And I thought Chennai was the only haven of ridiculously-high-price-justifying autowallas!! And btw, on a side note.. I worked for Microsoft IDC.. You into MSR, bangalore?
@Nikita....agreed! Dilli autos rock! :P (never thought I'd say this..)
@Itsfine... good point! :|
@Ishu...heard a lot about Chennai autos too. :P I work with POC, as a summer intern, I'm a student of HR at XLRI. Btw, I've heard the IDC campus is pretty awesome, right?
Cool!! Yeah well it's pretty good.. :)
kolkata autos beat dem all. they've got our CM scared in putting his foot down :)
"Banga-lured"... thats an interesting observation...
For me it has been "Bangal-ore" or "Bengal-uru"... so far... :)
On being "Bangalored"... here is my take, from an earlier post: Just an observation... some years back the US slang term 'Bangalored' became a part of the lexicon. It refers to people who have been laid off from a multinational because their job has been moved to India - a business practice designed to save money that is arousing passions in some countries, especially Britain and the United States. I understand that due to the efforts of the government (of Karnataka) a while back, 'Bangalore' has become 'Bangaluru'... I seriously doubt if anyone or anything, even jobs, can be 'Bangalurued'... What say!??
The auto-wallahs can be really creepy... once they realize 'you' are not a 'localite'...
I know someone... who came down from Pune to BLR... to join an XYZ company... and received the shock of his life... after 'experiencing' the 'attitude' of the auto-wallahs here.
In Pune, one sits inside the auto and simply tells the driver where to go... and thats the end of it...
I've heard even scarier stories of Chennai autowaalas... *shivers*
Rest assured... the Bangalore auto-wallahs are fast catching up with their Chennai counterparts...
There was this piece of news recently... that an auto-wallah tried to run over an American lady... since she refused to pay the extra fare demanded by him.
The public/onlookers won't come to the rescue... especially if they realize that the 'victim' is not a localite...
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