Bad roads, traffic, mean auto wallahs, selfish government... There really is no end to my (our?) woes. So what do we do? Dismiss it as something one needs to get used to in our day and age? That does sound like the best thing to do, but why give up when you can do a little something about it? I am beginning to get used to a lot of things, but I still want to do my bit.
So starting off with a post about the auto drivers of Bangalore - they make a total of 60 minutes of my day absolutely miserable. They are rude, they are greedy... They border on being abusive. People say they are what they are because of the very unfair distribution of wealth. I don't understand that. Everyone's poorer than someone else. But that doesn't give me the right to be abusive. It doesn't give the auto drivers the right to intimidate people in better cars... Or play around with the meter. Or always, invariably try to take the longer route. Or never seem to know the way to the destination after committing. Or trying to make small talk when the passenger is absolutely NOT interested. I can of course choose to commute by car by giving up my absolutely irrational fear of driving, or I can take a bus. But autos are on the roads for a purpose. I pay them a lot of my hard earned money to take me places CONVENIENTLY, and I want to make sure that my reason to commute with them doesn't go to the dogs just because they are too stupid/ proud/ complexed to get it right.
I am making my start tomorrow, I am going to report every auto driver that misbehaves. Following numbers are of auto complaint cells set up by Bangalore police-
Bangalore Centre - Koramangala BDA complex - 25533525
Bangalore West - Rajajinagar Corporation Complex - 23324388
Bangalore East - Indiranagar BDA complex - 25253726
Bangalore North - Yeshwanthpur corporation Complex - 23376039
Bangalore South - Jayanagar Corporation Complex - 26630989
Alternatively you can email the authorities at transcom@kar.nic.in
Website: http://rto.kar.nic.in/help.htm
I am not sure how well this works, I haven't tried it yet. But I do know that auto drivers in Bangalore are very scared of the police. I got into a milder version of a street brawl over the route and meter with one of them last Friday. And when I pretended to call the police (Just Dial gave me incorrect numbers and I decided to buy time by making a fake call) and asked for his license number during the call, he pretended to look for it and then scampered off. So they are scared. The next time I am going to be sure I don't need to make a fake call.
I make my start tomorrow. How many of us can I count in?
4 comments:
Good initiative ...I'll pray it works..I guess it will..when they'll C some actn taken against 4-5 others will automatically mollify
Take care, is all I can say.
So...did it work? I've been in regular brawls with auto drivers too, and yes, they are scared of the police guys. I've never had the nerve/ the right phone numbers to make a call, though. Do these numbers actually work? Nd, i see it's been about a month since you started this initiative... Any fruits?
Hi Divya, my post on what works and what doesn't with the auto drivers in this city is long overdue. It has sort of worked for me. I called a couple of times, and a few times just threatening to call the police was enough too.
Have realised one thing - screaming at them and getting into a street brawl seldom works, especially here I hear, these guys have actually slapped women on such occasions.
Stay firm but don't let them know you are losing your temper. All I say these days is I will have to call the police or they can take what the regular meter is, and it works. If it doesn't, the JP Nagar number does work.. FYI.
Glad you found this useful (for the lack of a better word).
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