My house is 2-3 KM away from Dwarka Sec-9 Metro station. Usually I cycle but it was punctured that day. so I took a cycle-rickshaw in the morning but while returning home in the night, I took the Battery-Rickshaw.
They generally run on sharing basis. It was around 10:30 PM so not many people were coming out of the station and very reluctantly, the rickshaw guy pressed the accelerator with just two people (instead of 4) - me and another young man -an MBA aspirant.
We struck a conversation and he told me that he would have walked off the rickshaw if he had to wait any longer. "Anyone of them (cycle-rickshaw guys) would have agreed to take me even for 10 bucks," he said.
I was stunned. "10 bucks??? Ok, maybe it's their majboori (compulsion) to agree for 10 bucks but would you have felt OK to pay them 10 bucks for a distance which clearly deserves 20, if not more?"
"yes" pat came the reply. "Cuz at times, they fleece me when it's my majboori."
"But don't you think you are punishing the wrong guy for someone else's wrongdoing?"
"World is like that only. It's unfair."
Topic changed we talked some other stuff and our destination came. I put my hand in my back-pocket to pull out a 10 rupee note which is the standard shared-fare for that distance. But he...
he paid him 15 !!!
They generally run on sharing basis. It was around 10:30 PM so not many people were coming out of the station and very reluctantly, the rickshaw guy pressed the accelerator with just two people (instead of 4) - me and another young man -an MBA aspirant.
We struck a conversation and he told me that he would have walked off the rickshaw if he had to wait any longer. "Anyone of them (cycle-rickshaw guys) would have agreed to take me even for 10 bucks," he said.
I was stunned. "10 bucks??? Ok, maybe it's their majboori (compulsion) to agree for 10 bucks but would you have felt OK to pay them 10 bucks for a distance which clearly deserves 20, if not more?"
"yes" pat came the reply. "Cuz at times, they fleece me when it's my majboori."
"But don't you think you are punishing the wrong guy for someone else's wrongdoing?"
"World is like that only. It's unfair."
Topic changed we talked some other stuff and our destination came. I put my hand in my back-pocket to pull out a 10 rupee note which is the standard shared-fare for that distance. But he...
he paid him 15 !!!
Hi Gaurav
ReplyDeleteStumbled upon your blog while searching for some dressed up pictures of Rickshaws.
Woh project beech mein reh gaya, but ended up reading your blog from back to back. It's been many years since I have read a book ( In old age it's difficult to read for long ), but once I started reading your story, I just couldn't stop.
God bless