The Lady with her right hand in the air

I pass this market each time I visit my home in Mumbai. It’s a busy one where hawkers and pedestrians encroach more than half of the road meant for the poor vehicle owners and drivers. In India, footpaths have no meaning. Footpaths are the abode of hawkers. Hence the pedestrians occupy half of the road and consider it as their birth right. I guess I am digressing from my topic– that’s so me.

My wandering eye fixes itself on this young lady. At first look she seems to be a Maharashtrian – her big bindi on the forehead gave it away. She was wearing a sari which was torn at a few places and she was carrying a 2 – 3 year old baby on her left hip with her left hand holding the baby close to her. In her right hand she held a watch; a golden color watch. Her right hand was raised close to her head and was visible from even 100 meters away, I would guess. She was tall.

I thought maybe she found the watch and is asking people to locate the owner. However as I approached her she asked ‘800 rupya main – chaiye? That’s when I realized she is selling it. She looked desperate and in need of money. It must be her husband’s watch and she has come to sell it for cash, I thought to myself. Wonder what is wrong with her husband, my thoughts continued. Wonder what's their distress. For the next 5 minutes of my walk back home I was engrossed in the thoughts about life of the underprivileged and the hardships they face for merely existing in this world – and the world sure has no mercy. I didn't buy, neither did I help. I was just another passerby.

2 days later I happened to pass by the market again and approximately around the same time. There she was. Same sari, kid on the hip, and right hand in the air but this time she held a mobile phone. It sure was an oh – ho!! moment for me. This time around my thoughts were not in favor of the underprivileged but around the probability of illegal proceedings under the guise of poverty. May be her husband stole the stuff and she sold them hiding in the pretext of urgent need of money for basic necessities. May be this is their mode of affording the existence in this world – wrong for us, right for them, their stomach and their kid. The next 5 minutes of my walk was mired with the see-saw between right or wrong.

I may never know what really that lady was up to but it sure led me to conclude that what you see is now what it is. In the first observation things/situations/incidents may look like something but with further encounters/analysis the picture may change completely.

Holds true to relationships as well – don’t we keep correcting our first impressions??

Puneri bRickshaw's

Mixed emotions emerge each day. Each morning 9.30 am and 7 or 8 pm after work, on most days are the heads up time for these feelings. It’s The time when I am pushed to look for a medium of travel in this transport infrastructure deficit city of Pune. I am one of those subjects of Pune who is handicapped by the non availability of his own cycle or bike or car. I am on the mercy of these so called bRickshawala's.

Why bRickshaws you ask?? - Because they are like these broken pieces of bricks - brainless and useless. 

Just around the corner of my lane is a rickshaw stand. At any given time of the day there are 5 to 6 rickshaws waiting minus the drivers. I find them usually playing cards or chatting away to glory nearby. Only and if only they are in the mood will they look at you and move their eye brows - a sign of Vaat is up!! - bRickshaw style. Though it is supposed to be a queue and they are supposed to ferry a customer wherever he wants to go, here it’s far from truth. As I tell him the place I want to go, he readily agrees or signals someone else to drive me. The happiness of this scene only lasts a minute. It’s only when I sit in the bRick that he opens his tobacco scented mouth and says 30 rupees more than the meter. What for? is answered by a static dialogue of 'I won’t get a passenger back' or 'It’s too far'. Well excuse me, isn't the meter there for a reason? And at the end of the day it’s your business problem; screw a consultant and not me. Being inspired by Munnabhai and may be Gandhi I wish him 'Thank you' and get down to walk to the next lane in anticipation that I get a lesser irritating fellow there. Hope keeps us going; I just wish it could transport me some kilometers miraculously.

Besides the previous scenario, this other day of the past week, I was waiting for a bRick outside my office. I had the company of 7 other 'ditto need' people standing. One by one approximately 20 plus of these bRick's passed us by, stopping for a brief second to ask about our destination, show a sign of disappointment (Imagine the driver being disappointed). 7 people - 7 different destinations but one single outcome - NO. Imagine how frustrating it can be after a looonggg day at work doing nothing and now again doing nothing - disgusting, I say. Okay, that 'nothing part' is a shhhhcret ;-).

But just imagine how desperate these bRickwala's make you. After dealing with them, I am now in Love with their Mumbai counterparts. They are so much civil - atleast 80 percent of the times. Atleast they ply by the meter and the meter is rarely rigged. In Pune all meters run faster than the 3 wheels. The distance of 10 km's in Pune costs me anything between 80 to 100 bucks in a bRick whereas in Bombay in a Rick 22 kms costs me 120 bucks. Blood Boiling, isn't it? No two times I have paid the same fare for the same travel in Pune. 

There are gangs of bRickshawala's in each locality and only members of that gang can ply passengers from there. I am not kidding. I have seen fights between the guys when an outsider bRickwala didn't follow the norm. Generally, because of this reason, many drivers don't ply to certain areas.

Unlike Mumbai, Traffic cops have no respect here. I have seen bRickwala's roughing up with the cops.

You may begin to ask what's with the buses - let me stop you before that. BEST buses in Mumbai are akin to the Rajdhani. I hope you get the drift. Check the Picture for the state of the buses and imagine - no known time table, no proper bus stops, pick pocketer’s adobe etc. Now make a choice.

One day, I decided to take the bull by its horn. I started chatting with them while on my inflated rides in the bRick. So I asked them why they refuse passengers - effective communication says you understand the others perspective first. 

 His replies - very literally -

1) The destination is not on my way home - oh sorry, we didn't know we had to buy a house next to yours.

2) I wont get a passenger on the way back - I suggest keeping a Mayan Calendar to predict the demand for the way back. But why would a bRick always want to come back to the same location where we take it from??. That’s the greatest mystery after the Pyramids.

3) There are no Gas stations in that route - I am going to print the route map with gas station locations via symbols to assist every 'ditto me' subjects or may be speak to Iran via Israel.

4) Gas wont suffice till the end - come let me fart for you.

Ridiculous reasons and they still feel they are right and its for us to mold as per their whims and fancies.

But I would be lying if I said all of them are like this. I did meet 2 or 3 good drivers in my 24 months in Pune. Their meters have been reasonable, they had a smile and were chatty and even offered to give their mobile number to check if they are nearby in case of need in the future. Thats like an entrepreneur. Those are the guys who understand their loss in refusing to ply passengers and sticking to get what they want. These are the guys who don't follow the herd.

Till we have a lot more of the entrepreneurial streak - bRickshawala's Bikhsha de do. please!!