This morning Sudha and I tried to work out how one car could be available to both of us when we needed it but try as we might it wasn't working out for us. So it was decided that I would take one of those infamous three wheeler taxis of Chennai, the auto-rickshaw to work. We actually have one of those auto-rickshaw stands in front of our house so it should have been easy for me to get one of those three wheelers but it turned out that the direction I was headed was not the direction that the two auto drivers in front of the house were prepared to go! So I trudged it to the next street where there is another one of those auto-stands and here these guys were asking for a hundred and eighty bucks for a trip that should not have cost anything more than a hundred bucks! So off I went in the direction of the bus stand thinking I'll do the trip to work by bus. As I walk along the road an auto slows down and when I tell him where I wanted to go he demanded two hundred bucks for the trip! The next auto guy who slows down surprisingly wanted only one hundred bucks so I hop in and tell him I'll gladly give him a hundred and twenty Rupees just for his charging me the correct price! He is surprised and looks at me through his rear view mirror just to make sure I was not mocking him so I told him I was just glad he did not try to rip me off and he said 'there is little place left in the world for honesty in this day and age Sir'.
The auto trundles along and as we reach Kalakshetra colony the auto-driver's mobile phone rings so he pulls over to the side and begins to talk to the caller inquiring how his wife was. He was agitated by the caller telling him his wife was having a breach baby and would need a Caesarian section and that the hospital needed him to put up another Rupees Seven Thousand before they could consider sending his wife in to the operation theater. He pleaded with the caller saying he had Rs Two thousand after having plied his auto all night just to raise some money for the hospital costs. He urged them to go ahead with the operation and promised to bring the money when he got to the hospital. He was weeping openly as he said that and he hung up on the caller. He got back into the auto and turned to me and said 'mine was a love marriage Sir, never ever have a love marriage - you will have no family support if you go against the will of your families'. He went on to say that he begged the auto owner for some money but he refused him money and instead preferred to put money into a temple hundi! He was crest fallen that friends too would not come forth at a time of need and said he was feeling suicidal. He wanted me to get off his auto so he could go and return the auto to the owner and head to the hospital with the two thousand rupees he had in hand. He even said I did not have to pay for the trip thus far.
I asked the man to calm down and said he should drive on to my office and I would give him the money he needed for the child birth. The man could not believe his ears - he turned around and touched my feet and said 'God must have sent you to get in my auto'. I was quite embarrassed by his utterances and asked him to concentrate on his driving but he went on talking, mostly to himself, of how his God took care of him. I did not have the heart to tell the man I am an atheist and did not believe in his God! I stopped at an ATM and drew some money for the man and handed it over to him at the end of the journey. I chose not to watch his facial expression when the money came into his hands - I just turned away and walked towards my office. I did not dare turn around and see what was happening with the man.
At 1330 today I got a call on my mobile from the auto driver to tell me his wife had been delivered of a baby girl and that the mother and baby were well. I wish the auto-man and his little family all the very best. I really am not sure what to make of this episode, I just hope that this whole episode was not an elaborate con and that the money was well spent.
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