#MetroDiary 34: covering the last mile

The new job has changed my life. I go in the metro but remain busy thinking about the work for the day. I catch myself constantly looking down at my phone to send away a few mails even before I reach office and in the process, I am failing to notice my fellow passengers. 

This is how I travel now a days..looking downwards

Metro on the other hand, has changed the transport scene of Delhi to a great extent. However, the last miles are still at the mercy of auto-wallas (three wheelers) and the cycle rickshaw pullers. In Delhi I used to assume people preferred mass mode of transports, given the problems of making the auto-walls and Taxi wallas go where you want them to go. The conversation is surreal. You flag down an auto. It dutifully stops by you. You are about to get on and say, "Patparganj". The driver says, "Nah! Shahdra." Eh?! Really? People from any other part of the world may not be able to believe that a taxi or a three wheeler driver is actually trying to take you somewhere that he wants to go and also charge you money for the same, but that can happen in India. We have a population of 1.3 billion. Someone or the other will definitely go where the driver wants to go. Therefore in Delhi, it is not about finding an auto or a taxi, it is about finding an auto or a taxi whose driver has the same destination as you. 

Anyway, as Delhi has not made itself walking friendly in most part of the city and motor cycle riders are omnipresent like the Lord Vishnu himself (from footpath to foot-overbridge), I still have to take rickshaws and autos (both three wheelers; one pulled by man, another machine) to cover the last mile. The general things I do are (read, suggestion to the newbies to the city)

1. I do not take the rickshaws or the autos that stand nearest to the metro station or go with the drivers who come inside the stations (they do). It is an universal advice though. Avoid this lot in any country that you go. Kuala Lumpur or Paris or Delhi; follow it. 

2. I tell the rickshaw puller the destination and the fare before boarding. If you have a special knack for bargaining then of course you can skip this step.  

3. Keep an eye on the route even if you do not know the route. In Delhi, the last mile drivers love to travel through the wrong side of the road to make it congestion free for them. However, you can get free from the world in the process. Does not seem such a good idea to me, however much I crib about life! 

4. Keep your mind open. Not all drivers will be the same. You will meet some amazing people who will agree to drive you to your destination. You can get some important insight about the city as well as about life. 

A few days ago I met such a driver. I stopped an auto in rain at Kailash Colony metro station to travel the last one km to my office (at present, the destination has changed). I was in a sari (bad day!) and was worried I will get in trouble if I try to walk. To my surprise, the elderly auto driver said, "Get in". You must have noticed that I did not follow my own advice number 2 here. I did not tell him the rent I would pay. In Delhi, distances shorter than 1 or 2 km, are not travelled by the metre. It is by the goodwill of the drivers. The moment it rolled, I said, "Uncleji, I pay Rs X for this distance". He said, "Did I say anything? Did I say I will charge more?" I was quickly embarrassed and started explaining how people ask almost double the amount. He smiled and also said I named the place wrong. Why did I mention a crossing, whereas the colony is called something else. I told him how people took me inside the colony and started arguing for even more fare if I named the colony. I said, not all are like him who knew the area so well. He laughed. He then told me a lot about the area and about himself. He said he came in 1959 and there was a small temple on the top of the hill and a big tank. They were originally from Agra. His parents had 6 kids and they hardly had enough to eat so he could not complain about not being sent to school. He worked as a beldar (daily wage earners at building sites) for a few years, then became an auto driver renting autos from owners. It took him almost a decade till he could buy an auto and a license to ply it. He now lives near Kalkaji. He told me, "It is very difficult to recognise an area in this city if you fail to visit it a few years. I therefore, try to take riders to every corner of the city." See..I told you! Number 4 remains very important. I wanted to tie a black thread on his feet, like I often see the rickshaw pullers wearing, to save him from "bad eye" (read, inflicted by the fever of bad behaviour), instead we folded our hands in front of my temporary office and said bye with a smile. 

May the last mile connectors keep smiling!