Fisticuffs - The North & South of them

Marvel Comics introduced its superhero character of "The incredible Hulk" sometime in the 60s. The background is well known - Dr. Bruce Banner - a physicist exposed to radiation from an experimental gamma bomb explosion turns to a mammoth green monster when enraged or provoked into anger. The introvert scientist usually reserved and withdrawn becomes a creature seething with uncontrollable rage - exuding super human strength that destroys anything and everything in his path. 

Well, so much for getting you guys warmed up to the topic of my today's post, Rage - more so on the busy 'Sadaks' of India - the North and South of them. Being a Bangalorean yet working in Noida, makes me look at things from a southern perspective. It is how I am wired. It is how we are all wired. 

A particular incident in the busy commercial space of Karol Bagh, New Delhi on a very pleasant Sunday in February this year and my sudden remembrance of the same today, triggered my blogger juices to make a post out of it. Sowmya was visiting from Bangalore and I had taken her on her maiden metro ride to the Karol Bagh shopping district to reduce my wallet's weight and add to her luggage some precious bags, jeans, jackets etc etc. While on a leisurely stroll on the crowded pavements, we came across an unusual gathering of a motley crowd at an intersection. There was a clear sight of 2 sedans parked awkwardly in the middle of the intersection blocking traffic and pedestrian flow. Out on the streets were the owners of these sedans, exchanging 'unpleasantries'. Each one aiming at one-up man ship by trying to intimidate the other with innovative mix - match of profanities, which thankfully only I understood and wifey was blissfully ignorant. We had time to kill and I insisted on staying a little while longer and watch the saga unfold. Fingers were pointed at each other & came as close as within a few centimeters from either person's eyes. 

The chill in the wind was not cold enough to sooth either of their nerves and lo! all of a sudden they turned pugilists and a fisticuffs battle ensued! I would have stayed longer and soaked in the free entertainment if Sowmya hadn't prodded me to vacate the space and move on further to spend more of my hard earned money on some vanity bags and high cut shoes for her. 

This might have been a first of a kind road rage incident for her, since not many such incidents happen near her maternal home of Mysore, where motorists are friendly and law abiding and extremely cordial towards each other. Any rare occurrence of a minor mishap would result in the drivers stepping out of their cars and inspecting the damages caused if any. No damage - no problem. Its time to move on. Of course apologies are exchanged and there are no Hulk moments. May be it is because of the subdued pace of the city or the culture of the natives that advises them against display of useless rage on the roads. 

Bangalore, my city on the other hand is quite different. Though not as 'radical' as the North, it is quite a temperamental city and road rage is a known entity on Bangalore's narrow roads and people are much more impatient and irascible compared to the royal city. However, it is interesting that in Bangalore, the tempers flare but soon subside when it comes to going beyond the normal exchange of profanities in the vernacular language. The other usual exercises of stepping out & inspecting damages do happen, but rarely does the matter proceed towards fisticuffs and an all out battle on the street. 

I have observed that in India, where there is a striking disparity amongst people, there is a greater bias against car owners / drivers when compared to riders of 2 wheelers and auto rickshaws. Call it mob justice or what, but it is common practice to hold the one driving the car to fault in cases of road mishaps - small or big. 

In the southern cities, people are more rational and more sympathetic to the situation. They construe the whole incident as unfortunate which should not have happened in the first place. However in Delhi and NCR, I have seen young chaps driving rickety bikes and old 2 stroke scooters terrorize the fellow in the car in case of a lapse in concentration. Once, on my way home from my office in Sector 127, enroute Nithari road, I saw these rider - pillion duo on an old Bajaj Chetak driving quite precariously. A Santro from behind who had to turn the other side just made a wrong calculation of his distance from the scooter and knicked the rear of 2 wheeler which made the duo taste dust. Thankfully, all this happened at quite low speeds and no one was hurt. The scooter rider immediately stood up, demanding the car windows to be rolled down (since I was in an auto rickshaw I was able to look at this in real time as my driver felt morally obliged to step out and resolve the issue if it ever went out of hand - yeah! Noida mein aisa hi hota hai - in the words of my auto driver) and when it was done, he immediately took out the car keys and barked at the car driver to step out of the vehicle and soon the fisticuffs started. 

I mentioned this incident because I myself was involved in such an incident while driving my car in Bangalore - Bull temple road to be precise. I was still a novice then and my half clutch was only average. Bangalore has the highest 2 wheeler population - not only in India but the whole of the world! There was a rather uphill road that I had to negotiate and there was a busy crossing in between. The more experienced drivers zipped past me without trouble and I was stuck with my average half clutch, the risk of the engine turning off and the fear of constant loud honking from behind. The situation was already out of control and when I put her on first gear and pushed the gas peddle, she just roared to life and plunged forward only to collide with a crossing 2 wheeler. Obviously he fell and my car came to a grinding halt. Extreme fear of public mortification & the pangs of guilt prevented me from stepping out of the car. The guy on the fallen Honda Activa stood up with a face so angry that reminded me of dad when I had done something wrong. The usual demand to roll down the windows which I meekly obliged to - being a novice with a new car and all. Much to my relief the fellow did not even lay a hand on my car let alone on me. He just showered me with his arsenal of best local profanities which I attributed to my bad karma! I was let off after a few seconds of lip service! This happens only in the south! 

I wonder what the differences were in the 2 situations except for the locations where they were placed. I have always wondered why people in the North are more susceptible to anger and how easily take it one step further to vent out their rage. Maybe they take the Hindi proverb of "Jiski Lathi Uski Bhains" logic a tad too seriously. 

In the south, people believe in poetic justice and rely on Karma making the decisions. Of late, however, I feel that the whole of India, is becoming more and more vulnerable to PDR (Public Display of Rage) and I only hope, a scientific approach to traffic management and a more responsible attitude of drivers will develop to avoid a total - No holds barred - free for all - mayhem on the streets. 

The Autorickshaw Diaries

Auto - rickshaws are those ubiquitous three wheeled juggernauts that run around Indian roads ferrying passengers from across the farthest points of a city or a town. These black and yellow machines which recently change colours to a more environmental friendly green and yellow run by private operators act as vital supplements to the burgeoning issue of public transportation. 

In some parts of town where public transportation operated by Government is inefficient or just not enough to cater to people's needs, these little automobiles come to the rescue and are most suited to cover short distances on routes that generally do not appear on the bus map. 

These 3 wheelers are spacious enough for 3 average sized adults to travel in relative comfort. Its 150 CC petrol / CNG fired engine is powerful enough to pull you through some really steep roads. When it comes to air conditioning, you are in for a pleasant surprise as you are privileged with fresh natural air in 360 degree surround. 

Although, these common man's transport do have an excuse of shock absorption in built in them, please do not keep your expectations high when you travel India's famous pot hole ridden lanes in these. 

These 'Autos' come equipped with a customised Made in India taxi meter which runs much faster than these autos themselves. Of course, one might say that a ride in relative comfort comes with a premium.

All this, was about the machine. A machine is incomplete without a man. An ride on the autorickshaw is made most memorable by the experience one derives from the interaction with the rider or the driver. Like most men, autorickshaw drivers range from downright obnoxious to interesting and sometimes even inspiring. 

I recall an incident when I was just a boy of 11 - 12 years. I had just collected my marks - sheet from my school and my mother had kept me company. We were on our way back home in one of those spacious BMTC buses & while disembarking the bus my shell shocked mum suddenly realised that her vanity bag had been flicked off by some extremely stealthy pick pocket. Unfortunately for us, that bag had money, keys to our house, my mum's credit & identity cards and other stuff. My mum somehow got us both home with her presence of mind. Those were the days before the mobile revolution took India by storm. So there was no one we could contact on emergency except for dad. After convincing a nearby shopkeeper that we had really been victims of a smooth criminal, we could call and inform our dad from a pubic telephone and we went home to just grumble over the day's happenings. 

The next day my mum was in for a very pleasant surprise. While at work, she received a call from an acquaintance of ours from whom we regularly bought items for the kitchen. There was good news on the other end. Her stolen purse was found and they were in its possession. Most of the things were in place except of course for some petty cash. Apparently, the thief had used an autorickshaw after the successful 'heist', took out the money and abandoned the bag for which he found no real use. This honest autorickshaw driver who found the bag lying on the passenger seat, took the pain to thoroughly search the belly of the bag and found an invoice belonging to a shop from whom our family used to buy regularly. Though not in his regular route, this good samaritan traced this shop and handed over the bag after much assurance from our acquaintance that the bag would be handed over to its true owner. Mum finally got back her bag with everything intact. Her only grouse was that she could not personally thank this guardian angel. 

This is one of our fondest memories of an autorickshaw and I sincerely wish this honest human being a good life.

There are several other incidents that we would have all heard of how gentlemen autorickshaw drivers have come to the rescue of pregnant women, answered to calls of distress by people being mugged by robbers and even have provided vital leads to police investigating cases. The autorickshaw drivers spend more time on the road than at home and they come across practically all genre of people making use of their services. Most of them would have developed a skill set that enables them to identify the true nature of a person just like the cops have an aptitude to sniff out a criminal from a crowd.

It is also quite interesting the topics that these autorickshaw drivers pick out for discussion. Usually on people's road sense, the harassment they face from the police, deadly affiliations some of their colleagues who have deserted the path of hard work and righteousness that have tarnished the names of their entire fraternity, politics and of course movies. You get more friendly with them and generally they open up their lives in front of you. It is surprising that this 'career' is taken up mostly out of a need rather than out of choice by men belonging to communities and from family backgrounds that stand in stark contrast to the life one can lead by becoming an autorickshaw driver. One often hears about many graduates and even post graduates who believe in leading an honest life becoming rickshaw drivers when society could not provide them with a deserving job.

Autorickshaws provide a respite to many criminals on the path to rehabilitation. The police takes it as a moral responsibility to put back convicted outlaws into mainstream society and tie up with banks & NGOs to sponsor such schemes to help them lead a respectable and honest life.


The professional name of an autorickshaw driver has taken a royal nose dive before the public eye because of the unscrupulous ways of a few wrong doers who believe in holding passengers to ransom, purposely mislead tourists and newcomers to town, flex their muscle & might before the government and threaten to go on flash strikes quite frequently to force the authorities to meekly accept their demands. Today, the public in general have stopped sympathizing with this fraternity as a whole due to the drastic shift in the majority's attitude and dipping servitude, though a few - very few good samaritans still continue to work old school i.e. in the honest way and earn a well deserved livelihood.

I would appreciate if you could all share your best or worst moments in / with the autorickshaw. Maybe a few more good stories will change our bespectacled perception about this class of working men. 

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.

Martin Luther King, Jr.