The lords and masters of Bangalore.....

Every Bangalorean can recount countless tales of excesses of the lords and masters of the city….the autowallas! They ignore you in the hour of frantic need, overcharge you, double charge you at 7 p.m. and in general reduce you to fuming tears if not outright mad rages!

I have borne with many a high and mighty auto walla, who does not so much as deign to look in your direction while contemplating whether or not to do the high honor of transporting you in the vicinity of your destination. Then they absolutely ignore your instructions to follow a certain route or at the very least give you a look of total disgust when you might suggest a better and shorter alternative. Ofcourse the lesser we talk of their galloping meters the better.

I live in one of the Nagars of Bangalore; in an apartment complex which to my utter surprise is quite a landmark…it would put any US President to shame! It gives me heart palpitations just to contemplate flagging down an auto to my place during rush hour from anywhere further north from Cunningham, even with the mandatory 20 bucks extra.

My sister loves to regale acquaintances with stories of how she and her friends were chucked out of an auto in the middle of Brigade Street for discussing the issue of the famous thespian Raj Kumar and his much YOUNGER heroines in less than reverential terms. The case of money grabbing Ramalinga Raju has been regurgitated by so many overcharging auto drivers as justification that it isn’t even worth mentioning.

And to top it all, every once in a while we all have to sit back and cool our heels during the strikes and bandhs by the autodrivers association in demand for higher rates. So once again we bow to the pressure, pay higher and forget about the extra 10 or so bucks because CHANGE is always ILLA.

Once in a while though, an angel of mercy totally makes you gush with complete admiration at their professionalism and honesty. They give their community a much needed good name!

Bangalore has one of the better networks of city transport yet we are totally and utterly dependent on autos. With the ever delayed Namma Metro starting only on a limited route in 2010 (if atall), the current status is sadly here to stay!

As they say This IsNamma Bangalore…. Jai ho!!