Boarding a train or a bus and getting down in one piece may test your athleticism but wrangling over the fare before you get into an auto in Delhi or fuming within as you see a tampered metre push up the fare both in Delhi and Mumbai tests your mettle.
I limit myself to the two cities because I have had a chance to experience auto woes anywhere else.
If you choose to pay by the metre in Delhi you are doomed. All geared to haggle over the kiraya (fare), you harden your expressions, look straight at bhaiya’s face and let out a deep, authoritative, "kitne me chaloge?" Bhaiya will quote triple or even five times more than the price. Mostly he will agree to a lower fare. However if it is a group of autos rickshaws waiting for passengers then they are difficult to bring round.
I ended up paying Rs. 45 from Munirka to my campus for an auto ride that by the metre would not had come to more than Rs. 15 back in 2002.
On my first day in Delhi, auto rickshaw drivers asked for Rs. 180-200 for a trip from the New Delhi railway station to my university campus. When I thrust forward the prepaid slip most of them slinked away. In case you are really desperate to cut a cheap deal then get ready to wait while they look for a passenger who would be willing to share the auto rickshaw.
It was always better if one was travelling in a group. Boys especially could outmatch the autowallah in the duel of vocals and rain a few abuses when the latter refused to budge from the exaggerated fare.
A bigger problem in Delhi was that if you are a girl you could never relax in an auto. If you did not end up being fleeced or robbed or even kidnapped in some cases, you are certain to be showered with abuses if you protest against the fare. I cannot generalise or call it every day but living in Delhi you are unlikely to escape it.
Autowallahs in Mumbai on the other hand do not have to be asked "how much?" You bark out the destination, watch the metre, the traffic jam, which route the auto takes, sit back and resign yourself to paying the number that flashes on the metre.
There you do not need to argue over the rates or say where you want to go before you climb in. Autorickshaw community in Mumbai is supposed to be most civil, complying and at your service. However, if you are new to the city and habitually ask, "Andheri station chaloge kya?" then the autowallah might shake his head slightly and speed off. Auto drivers sometimes refuse to go to nearby destinations and do not stop even if you wave to them. And if it is raining, you will realise that money can buy a lot of things but not convince an auto guy to stop for you. Overall Mumbai auto rickshaw drivers are much easier to deal with than their Dilli cousins.
It is a love hate relation. Public transport system in India is so inadequate to handle the sea of humanity that auto rickshaws are a necessity. If fare metres could be made tamper proof, travelling could be much easier and uneventful.
PS: There has been a massive influx of North Indians especially from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar into Mumbai. The Shiv Sena’s and lately Raj Thackeray’s tirade against North Indians for spoiling Mumbai culture has partial roots in the changing face of auto rickshaw community in the city. It is alleged by many (and sometime I agree) that bhaiyas have brought in brusqueness to Mumbai’s Maharashtrian fabric (please don’t bay for my blood) In spite of the headaches they cause, true blooded Mumbaikars (if that is a credible term) cannot do without them.
Photo courtsey: www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=107102
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