Today, after a really long time, i took an auto home. The distance was just over two kilometres, so after several autos refusing to take me my way, i decided to try my luck on the other side of the road and who should come honking to catch my attention but a swanky new green auto complete with electronic metre.
"R.T.Nagar?", i asked and he replied in English "Where in R.T.Nagar Ma'am?""Main Road", i said. "30", he quoted. Beyond arguing, i agreed. Others were asking for incredible amounts of money.
One minute into the ride, he asked me in English, "Do you have 30 bucks change?" It won't be too far off the mark to say that my jaw dropped when i heard him use the word bucks. And, honestly, i was also impressed.
"Yes, i do." Usually, when auto drivers set the tone of the conversation by talking in English, i speak back a little bit in the language and switch to something more comfortable so that they find it easier to converse. I don't know what it was this time, but i decided to speak in English only, and asked him a question i have never asked an English-speaking autowallah before:"If you speak decent English, why do you ride an auto?"
"I work at a travel and tours company Ma'am. I ride the auto only on Saturday Sunday."
"Oh", i said, surprised. "Why only Saturday Sunday?"
"This is my own auto. My father rides it on weekdays. Two days, i give him rest and i ride on weekends."
"Where's the travel agency?"
"Chamrajpet."
"And how do you travel to work?"
"I take the bus. Actually, i have a vehicle, but the traffic is so bad, so i don't use it. I keep it for my mother and father, if they want to use it."
"Is it your own travel agency?"
"No Ma'am. My boss is travelling, in Malaysia. So i'm servicing customers right now."
"Are you from Delhi Ma'am?", he asked me.
Now that surprised me. Nobody's ever asked me if i'm from that Godforsaken place. No, i said."Oh okay. I thought maybe, the way you talked..." I again gave him a vehement no.
"You work Ma'am?", he asked.
"Yes, i do. I work for a technology company."
After that, there wasn't much conversation. We arrived at the end of the road, and he stopped his auto. I hopped out, handing him exactly 30 bucks. We smiled at each other and i said Thank you very much. And he said You're most welcome. He said, i can drop you till your home. I said, that's alright, i'll walk it.
He said, "You have no idea, you have made me very happy." I said, "Why? Because nobody talks to you in English?" "Yes", he said, and went away smiling.
I felt good. And i also realised that the reason some autowallahs speak up in English is because they want to practice talking it, feel around it, get comfortable with it. My reluctance to take them out of their comfort zone meant that they'd not be able to grow their zone to include English too. I'm just glad that i chose to continue the conversation in English today. And i'll continue to do that in the future.
And i'll look forward to more such pleasantly surprising encounters in the future.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
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