Three Wheel Nightmare…

Last evening the travel back home from work was quite adventurous or would say rather pathetic…Had started from office around 6 PM and was out of the office gate trying to catch an auto…

I am sure at the utterance of the word ‘Auto’ all women travelling by it would definitely stand up and sing in chorus “sothanai mel sothanai pothumada saami…sothanai than vaazhkai endral thaangathu boomi”…..for those who are lucky enough to get a dedicated auto driver (ithu nalla irukae) appadiyae ukkanthu kathai kelunga…

First and foremost criteria for me to catch an auto is the way the driver looks....ama ivangaluku kamal Hassan than auto ottuvaru…. Stop.. stop…naa atha mean pannala….i meant I would never dare to catch an auto where the driver is not wearing his uniform and is in his casual lungi….looks drunk, eppadi oodha solluvingala…..illa…his eyes should not be blood red…he should not have another accomplice who is sharing the driver seat with him….eppadi namma munecharikai…

Second criteria rate than…..I usually start from Rs.150 and would stretch upto Rs.200 depending on the time I am leaving office…some will accept for Rs.150 while most of them will not be in this range but will start at Rs.320…..naa autova vaanga velai kekala…..poga mattum than…This negotiation is the toughest part where you have to explain to him the full direction with exact kilo meters to reach your destination to justify the amount that is still under parisilanai…

Moreover our auto nanbar until that morning would have been driving in New York city and would have just landed in Chennai, so paavam he will be very much worried about the bad roads on the way for which I have to advertise on behalf of Government that   ‘New Avadi road nalla pottutanga….bridge ellam kattitanga….so neenga antha routela tharalama polam’…..

Even after so many pep talks our auto nanbar will still be skeptical…… ‘thirumbi gaaliya poganum madam….so pottu kodunga’….adengappa naa vena thirumbi thonaiku varava….am I living in a desert or what…At last the negotiations will come to an end, won’t say amicable…..

Once you are through with this acid test the next is the kolaveri ride….mostly the city autos go in a speed which will make you feel as though you are riding on top of  a Spanish AVE Talgo-350 (udane google pannanum ha..ha)…..u will not have anything to hold on to and our auto nanbar is least bothered about the passing vehicles and the bad roads…..left la odaichu..right la odaichu..cut adichu……and u will be stuck like a balli (lizard) in one corner…this is the place where I think of god more than anywhere….kaduvulae enna safe a serthurupa….unkitta illa veetla…..

At last u will automatically give a sigh of relief when the destination is nearing and if luck favors the negotiated amount will be accepted without any grumbling ….illana…yedra antha aruvala….

So now coming to my story…innum kathaiyae arambikalaya…enna oru build up… last evening after doing all the above preliminary checks I finally got the 4^th auto on road…the guy accepted for Rs.150 but said that he was not aware of the route and that I should guide him…

i said ok and as we reached the Lucas signal, he started grumbling that he wouldn’t have accepted if the distance was so much….

i knew I am in for a fight with this guy as there was some more distance to reach my house and moreover I had to pick up my daughter on the way (no deviation) for which he might have to stop for two seconds….i told him the direction – Left ponga, right, then left, and when I asked him to stop for two minutes to pick up my daughter…he got so frustrated and said that for 150 he can only come till here and asked me to get down….

I blindly refused and said that he can’t leave me in the middle of the road and just then my daughter also was there and got into the auto…Now you should imagine the way this guy took the auto...he was driving like a mad elephant and both of us would have been flung outside the auto…The highlight was when I asked him to stop, he refused and was still going in the same speed…

I started shouting and asked him to stop the vehicle immediately…by this time we had almost reached our place and he stopped in a junction which was a few yards from my house….i got down the auto and out of panic and frustration started yelling at him for refusing to stop and for over speeding…..there was a big scene happening in a busy road…me shouting at him at the top of my voice to come to the police station and he justifying that he did not do any wrong…..

Finally I settled the amount and just as I was walking away, I could hear this auto guy say....'sterling road thane nee…enkitta maatama poga maata'…

In the middle of all this I could see so many curious on lookers who were very much interested to stop and watch the fight but to my dismay not even a single person had come to my rescue…Thanks to Nimmi(my neighbour) who just then passed by and stopped to join me on seeing this.....

The vegetable shop owner whom I knew from small age in front of whose shop this incident happened was simply watching the whole thing trying to attend a single customer..…..

Will these people do the same thing if such a situation arises for their mother or sister or wife.. konjam pazhaiya statement than but it made real sense to me at that moment….

So guys…where are we heading to…are we in a really safe place…are we not for each other in times of trouble….it is so pathetic that we need to fight our own battles….

I was reminded of the grave Delhi incident where people had gathered in huge numbers protesting against this atrocity…..but we also heard that nobody came forward to help the victims while they were lying on the road after being hit…..isn’t this not contrasting….so is it purely our luck that somebody  may or may not come to our rescue during such situations….

On a serious note, I request all the Annans, thambis, mamans, machans, Akkas, thangachis on road to come to the rescue of a woman in such situations….we really need you….it will be a great support for each other to fight against these bad elements…..