Being a travelling freak and a marketing person, major part of my time is spent travelling to different places. My passion to interact with new people and job commitments has took me to various parts of India. Entering a completely unknown city or a town is a quite adventurous job, but I completely love the anxiety offered by it. The first and foremost guys you interact with are the Rickshawalla's of the city. Whenever you get down from a bus or come out of railway station, lots of them make a circle around you offering to sit in their rickshaw's to commute further. Sometime a mini ragging session is executed by Rickshawalla's on the newcomer by pulling the luggage and manhandling. Whatsoever, this kind of behaviour is common all around India but there are some peculiar characteristics of Rickshawalla's which make them different regionwise. I will list down some regionwise behaviour of Rickshawalla's in different cities I have travelled and I would like to state here that these experiences are completely personal and not intended to hurt any regional sentiments. Lets start with Ahmedabad (one of my worst).
Ahmedabad :- Ahmedabad rickshawalla's have their connections with all hotels and lodges in the vicinity around Ahmedabad railway station. They work on commission basis to hotels ranging from low tariffs to very high tariffs. They will take you first to the hotel which provides them the highest commission, keep aside the tariff rate. Then they will themselves come with you inside the hotel and behave as if they are helping us to negotiate with the hotelier. Rickshawalla guy will come with you till your room and ask if we are planning to go somewhere. If we are planning they will claim that they will offer you the lowest rate in the town. And the newcomer just to verify goes to the hotelier and checks about the genuineness of rate quoted by rickshawalla, in return who will verify it as correct. All the required arrangements to gain maximum from the newcomer are done already by the unity of Rickshawalla's and Hoteliers. Please check the type of meter those rickshawalla's have, its very funny
Bangalore:- Rickshawalla's in bangalore will always quote you three times higher. And if a newcomer is not well guided by any resident of the city, he is ought to pay a hefty amount. They will always say to you that there is huge distance to cover till your destination and these are their standard charges. For eg:- Kempegowda bus station to Mantri square mall which is hardly 1.5 - 2 kms, one rickshawalla quoted me 120 Rs and told me its near but lot of traffic is there. Again there is a meter installed in every rickshaw but not a single guy uses that. Bangalore has a good network of buses, better newcomers use them to avoid paying a bizarre amount
Pune:- Rickshawalla guys in Pune will suck every penny from the individual if they come to know he is a newcomer. There are two kind of rickshawalla's in Pune, one who run on meter and one who don't. And for the former ones, the rate at which meter runs is really high, it almost faster than your heartbeat. And it will be better if you avoid the guys who dont pay any heed to meters. But due to lack of proper public transport in Pune, Rickshawalla's make a good business.
Surat:- Somehow I found honest rickshawalla's and its "Surat". To go from any part of the city to other part you can get a share rickshaw, no matter wherever you are standing. Even if you do a special rickshaw they will quote you an exact amount. I have been to Surat many times, but never found myself being overcharged by Rickshawallas.
Mumbai:- Here Rickshawalla's run on meter and standard tariffs. But they always put on a strike to increase the charges every six months. Mumbai Rickshawalla guy will ferry you round and round to reach the destination, so somehow the charges shown by meter increases. Sometimes purposefully they will take you to the busiest streets and increase the waiting time. Refusing to ply short distances is a peculiar characteristic of Mumbai Rickshawallas
Delhi:- Delhi is a combination of Mumbai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Recent case of Delhi Gangrape highlights some of the characteristics of Delhi Rickshawalla's, so maybe i dont need to explain more. Help of a local Delhi guy is essential for a newcomer
Agra:- In Agra, i found the number of rickshawalla's overpowering the number of people residing in Agra. It's an unusual statement, but all over the market you can just see rickshaws and rickshaws. Rickshawalla in Agra will ask you either you want to go special or sharing basis. Always go for sharing basis, because even if you ask for special, he will take commuters without asking you. After reaching the destination he will ask to pay the amount as fixed even if the auto was modified from special to sharing. Somehow I found behaviour of rickshawallas very funny there.
Not always negative, but sometimes I have found good souls, who always offer help to reach the proper destination. But the efforts of those few are overshadowed by greedy individuals, who want to maximise on the newcomers.
******************** Anurag *********************
