Auto Diaries

I’ve heard many stories from numerous people about how the auto-wala tricked them, charged them extra, took them by a longer route or was simply plain rude.

The impression kind of stayed in my head. And I did get wary of the auto drivers.

But some events which occurred recently, made me change my outlook.

Just a few days back, an auto driver explained the entire tariff system to me and advised me to buy a tariff card so that I don’t get cheated.

Another time, an auto driver charged me less than the regular amount (this I know because, it’s the route to my college, and I pay a particular amount everyday). And when I tried to be nice by giving him the usual amount, he refused and said, since he agreed on that amount he won’t take a penny extra.

Then a day or two after that, when I reached my destination (college), the auto driver gave back to me the EXACT amount of change, which was 6 rupees and 50 paise.

When I told my dad about this, he laughed really hard and said, “child, it looks like you’re in the wrong country!”

I’m not saying that all the auto drivers have hearts of gold. But the world isn’t as bad as we portray it to be.

You just have to look around you. There is more goodness around than you think.