Check out this bad boy! These are my wheels to and from the office each day. It does 0-20 mph in 2 minutes, pollutes like a chemical factory and sounds like a cat in a blender. It has almost as much power as a washing machine and 4 inch alloys.
This is the pimped out version, the banana leaves stuck to the side are this seasons must have for all self respecting tuk-tuk drivers. As if a white man in a tuk-tuk needs any more attention drawn to himself while riding through the mean streets of Chennai!
To the right is my usual driver, Sundar. He has an excuse for every occasion: too much traffic, too less traffic, too raining, too less raining, 5 kids, 3 kids, 4 kids and parents, family dog, family cow, high petrol prices, low petrol prices, too late, too early, too far, too less far. No matter what, he’ll rise to the occasion and find a reason to charge me extra. It’s a special class they have in tuk-tuk school: how to charge the filthy rich foreigner more and make him feel guilty about it.
But what a way to get to work and back 😀
You don’t have to be white/foreign to be charged more by the auto drivers of Chennai. They are notorious for charging more.
Most autos are owned by the cops and they are paid rental per day by the auto drivers. The auto drivers will not use the meter to charge but come up with their own numbers. Since, the cops own the autos, they will not book the drivers. Neat nexus !
Hi peter,
I do agree with Vijay but most of the cases happen because of the above reason. but still there are drivers who can charge you the exact amount. Though here in India we do have Right To Information (RTI) Act the RTOs are least bother about the passengers who commuts the public utilities. this is the pathetic situation entire because of the
Bribes taken by the higher officials from top to bottom. Its starts from small political member influence which leads to the government officials.Am much expecting on your site other than these posts, it seems you started another blog site for you is it so?