The Autowallah

You know how autowallahs in Kolkata are like. The owners of these overpriced public transport vehicles called autorickshaws are always in a hurry, swearing at passengers, at pedestrians if they can and of course at passing vehicles. They have a disgusting habit of charging a premium from a hapless passenger who doesn't know the exact fare from point A to point B ( to such an extent that to cut my losses, whenever I ply a route the fare of which I don't know or don't remember, on disembarking I simply hand the swine a ten/twenty rupee note and put on a "I'm a busy guy, just hand me the change, sucker, and make it fast" expression ). Abide by the traffic rules ? Thank you, but they are autowallahs, you know.....

Yesterday, en route to the local bus stop, I spotted an auto. The driver ( autowallah ) was about my age, about six feet tall, skinny. He was smoking a bidi ( poor man's fag, probably causes cancer but Ramadoss knows better ). I enquired whether he would ( be kind enough to ) steer his stuttering and spluttering automatic rickshaw, with me inside of course, all the way to Jadavpur.

Subsequently, this is what I heard:
Dekhun dada, ami to bhabchilam South City obdhi jabo, aapni 8B jaaben jokhon boshun, dekhi ar kono passenger pai kina.
( See, mister, I was planning to go only as far as the south city mall; since you're going to 8B let me see if I can get any more passengers )
After this un-autowallah like reply, he started shouting/ screaming "Et-Bee Jawobpur Thana Et-Bee Et-Bee !"

Later on, somewhere in the middle of the stretch that is the Prince Anwar Shah road, an old man made a Congress-like hand gesture to stop the auto and mumbled his destination. Unable to comprehend, the autowallah spoke to the septuagenarian, "Ki bollen thik shunte pelam na. Ami 8B obdhi jacchi. Aapni ki jaaben ? "
(Couldn't hear you properly. I'm going to 8B but not beyond that. Would you like to hop in ? )

Wow. I mean, I didn't believe that there existed in Kolkata a well-mannered autowallah, until then. Autowallahs never tweak their predetermined route, not at the request of a passenger anyway. They are advocates of the "my-way-or-the-high-way" policy. Have a polite conversation with a passenger ? Impossible. Be a little considerate toward an old man whose agility has been somewhat eroded by age ? No chance in hell, get real. This young autowallah was, therefore, a breath of fresh air, a delight. He was a paragon for his collegues. He was, quite obviously, testimony to the fact that there's no particular cause and necessity for the high-handed behaviour meted out by his fellow-men. In a nutshell, a very rare commodity indeed.