Monday, May 23, 2005

selective idealism

in more crude terms its called hypocrisy. at times i wonder if i suffer from selective idealism. conform to my own set of standards when it suits me fine or when it feeds my ego well.

was on my way back home after meeting a friend. getting a rick (auto rickshaw) in bangalore is a rather intersting fete. walmart could learn a few tricks from the ultimate logistcs arrangement quite common here. all you do is ask the auto which direction he is headed. ask him if its ok with him for you to hitch hike. he may just about like you and oblige. but that particular night i was not destined for a ride home. multiple attempts at hiring a ride left me with no option but to walk it back. i am told its a 12km stretch. have not walked that much in a long time. situations have their way of presenting themselves when you least expect them. life any other way would have been a drag.

about three-fourths of my way back, one tainted soul did agree to take me home, but not before i coughed up rs.20 - that would have been close to the fare for the whole distance). attempts at going by the meter failed. i found it against my credo to succumb to his whim. i would not have insisted on the meter had it been chennai. then why in b'lore? human endeavour is always at bringing predictability in chaos. they tried it in bangalore and installed the meters, made the drivers use them. in a place like chennai where the fare meter is treated more like a vestigial organ, existance of any sort of system calls for a kodak moment. one would not expect that in b'lore. isnt it a happening place? but here i was privy to an exception.

exception? some b'lore old timers would doubt.

2 comments:

  1. Yeah...I've been on the recieving end many many times, late nights in bangalore when autos suddenly stop going to where you want to go! I think then in between practicality and idealism, practicality wins hands down!

    and am glad that its not only me who has a jaundiced view on the Chennai rick-waalas! I hate them from the core of my being..!:-)..the best rick-waalas are in Hyderabad and Mumbai..:)

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  2. birds of a feather :-)

    there was this time when a chennai rick-waala refused to turn the meter on! more like, he was trying to tell me - i havnt heard of one, let me know when you hear about it!

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