Auto Wala Bhaiyas Bangalore/Delhi... Thank You!!- Learning on the Roads and in the Lanes...

This post has been long due...it goes back to the time when i was struggling to get an admission in LSR, DU for my Graduation in Psyhcology. With a mere 75% in my 12th i stood no chance to get into the institute which is a dream for any psycho student. so i travelled, for my back up, in scorching JUNE summer of Delhi, from north campus to south campus ..applying in some more colleges..nursing my wounded dreams but absolutely upbeat spirit !!

coming out fresh of hostel walls, 2 yrs in delhi meant null and void to me..i could not tell Daulat Ram from SRCC..i was completely dependent on the auto wala bhaiyas..even to take me to Kamla Nagar from KMC!!!! hee..hee..

It was during one of these trips that i learnt something so precious that till date i cherish it and plan to pass it on to my baby as one of the finest learnings in life..

.....it was sunny, hot and thirsty afternoon..i was travelling past south campus to north campus and my auto wala bhaiya stopped (in the city of crime i was all alone in an auto :)) ..he wanted to have water (i miss that bantha water ...) and i waited ...you PAY for every glass you drink..so i waited little more.....AND THEN he came to me and offered me one glass of water!!!!! i was shocked...who was i to him..a nobody..ours was a conditional relationship...i paid him to do his job...haggled with him for money if required..and here he was paying for me!!..assuming i needed that glass of water...this incident has NEVER..just never left my psyche...concerned friends around me tell him how i have to be careful in this big bad world...but how do i explain the fact that i have seen angels where i expected it not to exist...how....

till date, if i am in auto/rickshaw and i have water or coke ..i first offer it to them..it is my way of saying thanks to that bhaiya ...he taught me to be humane..

this was then...NOW

Bangalore auto community was very different from delhi one...here they have the right to say NO to you if they are reading a newspaper.. :) no matter what your need is ...

but then, something happened...and i discovered a world beneath those fawn clothings :)

i got pregnant...new marriage, new city, new family, new job, new tension (it used to rain a lot in bangalore then) and new pregnancy...aah....words cant express how tensed you can be on road...

then ..they happened to me...those angels i always was lucky enough to find in this cumbersome matrix of money and journey.... i would just request them about going slow and the moment they would realise i was pregnant, certain level of respect and concern would envelop our conditional relationship...they would drive slowly, carefully...real slowly..going around the holes and ditches and the famous bangalore traffic jam ....this journey continued for next two months till we got our own car...and NOT even once ..when i say it ..NOT even ONCE did i come across any autowala bhaiya who did not drive me carefully to my office and then back to home..(except one incident) and even today when i look back...i am so thankful to all of them ...

then there have been sweet incidents like one bhaiya would wait near office around 6 pm to make sure i was his pick and without even saying a word he would drop me home and charge me one stable price...there were no discussions, no haggling, if he was around it was understood by other bhaiyas that i was his traveller :)

once i was haggling for 10 rs with an aged auto wala bhaiya and in that process i told him i was poor and 10 rs extra is not fair...he stopped me immediately..with loads of affection he told me ...according to indian belief system ...saraswati ..the goddess of learning ...sits on our tongue at least once a day..so if i wanted i could take all my money back ..but NEVER use such a negative statement..needless to say he went ahead and blessed me with loads of good luck and wealth :)

now that i go to attend interviews ...there have been at least three incidents where auto wala bhaiyas wait for me to get down and wish me luck (and i see it in their eyes..it comes direct from heart) and bless me for the new job,..they are so convinced that i get the courage to go on ....

in one such incident, i was running late for an interview and being an HR i believe not reaching for interview on exact time is blasphemous..i told bhaiya how i was running late....he drove ..and he drove real fast and then when he realised his old auto was not able to keep time ..he stopped called another auto wala bhaiya and told him urgently and earnestly that i was running late for interview and that he shd take me to the destination on time ...since this angel was an old one i guess the younger new one took it seriously and drove me with full speed to the interview destination ...

in one incident...auto broke down while coming back from office..near marthahalli bridge...it was a bad rain..and this bhiaya kept trying to revive his auto..i told him to take it easy..he was drenched and tensed to be stranded...he stopped another auto..put me into it ..and hold your breath...refused to take money from me !!!! now ...how do i explain something this sublime...what i have heard of world is money matters..and here i see one AUTO WALA BHAIYA who refuses to take money for the already travelled distance of prestige tech park to the bridge...

once there was a bhaiya who was an MA.. who would go to court in the evenings, and to the airport and then in his spare time he would ride an auto..he had lost his job with some engineering company he was working with .......and he did not charge me a penny more ..he was awesome..

and there have been bhaiyas with lights and music in their autos..and i feel so upbeat when i see the dreamy eyes...a promise to the future...they know they will surpass the difficulties and have already created a beautifully lit musical world for themselves...you can know who is sophisticated, who is treacherous..who has been beaten by life..who is ready to beat life...beautiful world of all possibilities...

so much to learn...so much to think about..i have been touched by them in manners words cannot express...i believe life is beautiful...because even at the layer where life is not kind to you..the beauty of soul and spirit is outstanding....standing ovation to the beauty ..to the soul..to AUTO WALA BHAIYAS :)...