Polite Hyderabadi Autowallah, no I am not talking about oxymorons. I really encountered such an entity. I was zapped and went through the rest of the day like a zombie.
For those uninitiated, let me tell you about auto drivers of Hyderabad. They come in various flavours. But one attribute is common to all, they are masters of the world. They have a list of destinations they do not ply to and it is a long list, in short, they wont go where you want to go. Then their meter is always broken, so we have to haggle over the price. Even in the rare occasions when the meter is not broken, be assured it has been tampered with and it is rounded off to the nearest 5 or 10 rupees making it a round figure. Don't ever expect change from them. Once you board their auto, you are at their mercy, they have a preferred route and no amount of protest or cajoling makes them deviate from that set route. Then they zip through the traffic as if there are no other vehicles on the road except theirs. They are adept at taking u-turns where none exist, taking right turns where it is prohibited, going the wrong way in a one-way lane. The essence of auto drivers was captured very well in the bit in the movie "Kshanam Kshanam" where Sridevi is taken for a ride by the auto driver (RGV has this knack of placing tit-bits which make actors more from our world)
Coming back to my polite auto driver. This particular guy was very apologetic about not being able to take me to my destination. He had school kids to ferry and by the time he drops me and comes back it will be too late. He told all this without my asking and before I got into his auto. Now, I am sure auto-commuters of Hyderabad don't believe me but it is the truth.
This incident made a believer of me and there is hope for mankind.
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