A wrong notion about Chennai Auto Drivers being argumentative, quarrelsome and always in pursuit of excess fare is dispelled by my experiense with an Automan.........
In a late evening during a return journey from my daughters residense, after getting down from the city bus at CLRI Bus Stop, I went upto Madhya Kailash Road Junction to catch a City Bus or
share auto to go to Perungudi. It was past 8.30 P.M. and there was no sign of any public conveyance. I was reluctant to part with excess money as the autos charge almost double the justified fare(The present day generation laughs and sometimes gets annoyed with this mindset). I love walking and so I just started walking the distance to the next bus stop about 1.5 km away. . Already it was past 9PM. After passing thru half the distance, an automan slowed down his speed, requested me to get into his auto. He said, with all humility, that an elderly man like me should not walk at this time of the day on this poorly lit road with speeding traffic and he would leave me at the next bus stop. I got into the auto heeding to his request.
I got down at the next bus stop and profously thanked him. I offered the autofare and AMAZINGLY HE REFUSED TO ACCEPT ANY. He just drove away without a second look..........A rare humane behaviour indeed........
No comments:
Post a Comment