In London, the only possible explanation for taking a rickshaw anywhere would be if someone was feeling particularly down in the dumps and needed to have a good chuckle. The rickshaw is, after all, the human equivalent of a hamster's wheel. Yet it is the easiest way to travel over here; mainly because they thought it would be a nifty idea to stick a motorbike on the front and build millions of them.
The 'auto-rick' is both a convenient and nippy mode of transport as well as remaining very cheap when you convert back to beautiful Sterling. This is something I used to try and remind myself when haggling with the drivers over the fare because there can be a lot of fuss saved by realising that you're arguing over 20p.
However, all that changed the day an auto driver went too far by asking for more money than previously agreed once we'd arrived at the destination. On this occasion I just walked out of the auto without giving the driver his extra money, leaving him a little bit miffed. But nowadays I have to work myself up into 'fightnight' mode for negotiations because I became fed up of being treated like Richie bloody Rich. Now, normally I wouldn't say boo to a goose, so it has been difficult but I've finally developed a routine that is sufficiently stroppy and impolite.
Typical Negotiations.
Me: "Alright. I wanna go Reteri signal. How much?"
Auto-Prick*: "eh?"
M: "Re-TERI"
A: "you what son?"
M: (trying and failing to roll my R) "reeleleleRETERI."
A: (shake of the head indicating he hasn't got a clue, but could quite easily be interpreted as a head wobble and therefore an agreement)
M: "oh sod it, just take me to the big bridge and we'll see from there. How much?"
A: "200."
M: "HOW MUCH?! I'll give you 70 and we'll call it quits."
A: (laughing) "no, no, no. Very long mister. 180."
M: (lying to sound like I know what i'm talking about) "I paid 50 just the other day."
And so on and so forth. I still pay well over the odds for fares but the most I've ever paid was about 200 rupees for a 45 minute journey and that's still less than £3. Everyone's a winner really because I can wander off quite happy in the knowledge that it would cost a heck of a lot more in England and the driver can be delighted to have charged me double the going rate. Party time.
*Like what I've done there, eh?
The 'auto-rick' is both a convenient and nippy mode of transport as well as remaining very cheap when you convert back to beautiful Sterling. This is something I used to try and remind myself when haggling with the drivers over the fare because there can be a lot of fuss saved by realising that you're arguing over 20p.
However, all that changed the day an auto driver went too far by asking for more money than previously agreed once we'd arrived at the destination. On this occasion I just walked out of the auto without giving the driver his extra money, leaving him a little bit miffed. But nowadays I have to work myself up into 'fightnight' mode for negotiations because I became fed up of being treated like Richie bloody Rich. Now, normally I wouldn't say boo to a goose, so it has been difficult but I've finally developed a routine that is sufficiently stroppy and impolite.
Typical Negotiations.
Me: "Alright. I wanna go Reteri signal. How much?"
Auto-Prick*: "eh?"
M: "Re-TERI"
A: "you what son?"
M: (trying and failing to roll my R) "reeleleleRETERI."
A: (shake of the head indicating he hasn't got a clue, but could quite easily be interpreted as a head wobble and therefore an agreement)
M: "oh sod it, just take me to the big bridge and we'll see from there. How much?"
A: "200."
M: "HOW MUCH?! I'll give you 70 and we'll call it quits."
A: (laughing) "no, no, no. Very long mister. 180."
M: (lying to sound like I know what i'm talking about) "I paid 50 just the other day."
And so on and so forth. I still pay well over the odds for fares but the most I've ever paid was about 200 rupees for a 45 minute journey and that's still less than £3. Everyone's a winner really because I can wander off quite happy in the knowledge that it would cost a heck of a lot more in England and the driver can be delighted to have charged me double the going rate. Party time.
*Like what I've done there, eh?
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