THE GOOD BAD UGLY OF CHENNAI AUTO -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHENNAI

-



“He is going to build a palace by saving 50 paisa coins” was the remark of a taxi driver in the sixties against me a teenager then. Now the metered taxis have almost vanished from the city but the style of language used by them continues even today by their successors, the auto drivers.

While I am not fully against them I am also not fully for them. Essentially there are people who can be categorized as good, bad, ugly. It is the image of “bad” that has been living with them may be because they are in majority. When government staff who get good pay, regular bonus and overtime go on strike you concede to their demands but my asking extra ten rupees after being without earnings for half a day is it a crime, is their genuine argument. See the bad roads, see the traffic, see the competition from share autos and vans, how are we to earn, are questions that show indignation.    

Similar is the condition of autos in all major cities across all states and they ply on meter is a point vehemently countered with idle time of autos in Chennai. Similar is also the condition of labour/work force in many non governmental units but widely the Chennai auto drivers are perceived as discourteous, drunk by sunset and also rude raises their anger turning them ugly. They also have their own rule of ‘stand’ as to who all can park there and who should go next and what rates are to be quoted. They would be united to the core to fight passengers who try to find the cheapest or the passing autos.

Today the fixed minimum fare is Rs.25/- but is practically Rs.40/- and meters are put on only if distance to be traveled is longer that too to places from where they expect return passengers. If threatened with complaint they come down saying meter is not working and when we counter to go by chart based on kilometer rates they choose to be ugly and abusive again.

Yet the city needs them as all areas are not covered by bus and share auto and carrying luggage and travelling in public transport is not easy especially for the elderly. They do turn courteous on higher payment and also help in carrying luggage at times to second or third floor for the aged. The best behavior of Chennai auto driver comes to display when there is a mishap on the road. If a scooterist slips they are the first one to rush to restore him to balance and in the case of accidents they even brave risks of police enquiries and jump first in action to help the victim and take him to hospital forgetting all the meter rate quarrels that they are otherwise capable of.

Chennai would celebrate many more birthdays, but the auto man culture would continue as it is not inseparable  from the culture of the society. The auto man pleads for understanding of his plight and the auto passenger is indifferent at his best in many cases. Like call taxi they tried call auto which failed to take off thanks to the same indifference and the rare ‘namma auto’ is the smallest of consolation.

Yet looking at the society that is indifferent to the mishaps of the street especially the auto using middle and upper middle class, the bad and ugly may be repulsive but the ‘Good’ among the lot and the good by the same bad and ugly in crisis makes them welcome co-citizens of this lovely city and they are welcome to quarrel as long as their overall good overrides the bad and ugly.

          HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHENNAI  

          *****************************

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GOOD BAD AND UGLY IN RIGHT PROPORTION IS LEADERSHIP

-
Image
  The good bad and the ugly in right mix is what is leadership. People adore leaders since their good part is more visible while the bad and ugly form part of strategy that leadership is always made up of. Talking from the Indian perspective we talk of " sama dana bedha dhanda" as the right techniques leaders should adopt. The good and the 'sama' sync well as you do not need anything else to convince someone except good words and normally the method also works with people who behave 'good' for whatever purpose. 'Dana' is the way people who evade being good fall for, most often. 'Dana' is nothing but buying out people with favors and in present day materialistic world it is all the more easier for leaders to choose the apt item of 'Dana' which different people opt for. The role of leadership becomes a little complicated and demands the real skill of the leader both in strategy and approach when the last two options have to ...
Read more

METRO TO RURAL POSTING OF BANKER---LEARNINGS ON BRINJAL AND TOMATO

-
Image
                                       THIS IS THE BRINJAL PLANT I WAS FAMILIAR WITH How do you know? This was the question of my colleague with additional surprise. I didn't know what to answer as brinjal plants are less than two feet in height is no great general knowledge.  This officer on rural transfer from Mumbai and knowing Gujarati was made a manager in a godforsaken rural branch in South Gujarat. ‘Manager Saheb’ as address, respectful greetings across the village, hospitality with overflowing fruits and milk and lot of discretionary power and obedient staff in office were quite in contrast to his two decades life in cramped flat of the metro and drudgery of office life. Though different life, he didn't feel out of place.  He hardly understood his job role but was feeling comfor...
Read more

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS

-
It was a quiz program to test the knowledge of Tamil. Three schools participated out of which two had good brand value and were also from urban/metro areas. The third was from a small remote village near Kinathukadavu in Coimbatore district. I was delighted when the boys from this school won and earned handsome rewards in cash and kind. It is a middle school of less than 500 students and KPA of teachers include visiting homes of students and convincing parents on value of education to send students to schools instead of work. In others words marketing of a school which did not have brand value. The students wore new uniform for the program and were beaming with confidence to compete. The urge for knowledge and consequent respect and recognition it fetches ignited their spirit to be competitive. It was very pleasing to see the humble teacher accepting standing ovation equally humbly stating that NRIs from their district also have come to know of the school and are support...
Read more