(Audrey) Thane and I are currently in Hyderabad where the last few days have been a whirlwind of flights, changing hotels… changing hotels again, fighting pollution in vain, and frustrating archive work. In the midst of all this, I somehow had the good luck to stumble upon this gem of a sign, inside of an auto-rickshaw.
People should get paid for coming up with this stuff.
Unfortunately, not all of my auto-rickshaw experiences in Hyderabad have been quite so positive. Today, at the end of a hellish day around 5 p.m., I got an auto, and the driver—with a toothy grin—informed me that using the meter (i.e. following the law) was going to cost me a 20 rupee (50 cents) surcharge. Relatively speaking, that would be like paying a New York cabbie an extra 5 bucks for him to meter your ride instead of making up a price. I argued, I fumed, I threatened to report him to the police…. finally, having gotten nowhere, I threw up my hands, and got in.
In this rare instance, I had the trump card though. I was going to the Marriott, a rather nice hotel in Hyderabad. I was let off at the gate (rickshaws aren’t allowed inside) and instead of paying the guy his illegal “surcharge” I called over one of the Marriott gate guard guys and asked him to kindly intervene in this situation where I was being overcharged. He translated for me to the auto-driver that I would pay no more than the meter rate. Five minutes later the auto-wallah was literally spitting with anger, but I walked in having paid a fair price.
In retrospect, I feel slightly bad about this situation. I pay such “surcharges” all the time. This auto-guy just happen to catch me (a) on a really bad day when I ready to throttle the next person I saw and (b) on one of the rare occasions where I was headed to a place like a nice hotel and could pull this off. Still, I followed the law. Fair or devious?
I’ll tell you one thing—this particular auto-wallah will probably look at picking-up sucker-looking white women in a slightly different light going forward. We’re often cash-cows, no doubt, but we can also be a royal pain!
Tags: auto, auto rickshaw, fare, Hyderabad, meter, price, rickshaw, sign, spelling
June 8, 2010 at 2:50 am |
You go girl!
June 9, 2010 at 3:06 am |
well done!
July 18, 2010 at 11:19 am |
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