Breaking Records

By Sunil Thapliyal

Records are meant to be broken, and this is not just restricted to the sports field. Recently, I got a chance to challenge an auto driver to break his record of charging a passenger the cheapest price, in other words, the lowest profit he had made in a trip from a passanger.

This amusing incident took place recently, when I was going to a shopping complex. I reached Anand Vihar ISBT and asked many rickshaw pullers to go to the complex. During this process, an auto-rickshaw driver said, “Sa’ab, aaj jao. I’ll drop you there.”

I ignored him. I knew that as I had crossed the Delhi border, no auto driver would prefer to go by the meter and charge more money. t was better to avoid them. But he decided to not let me go as he wanted to make me a scapegoat. He said, “Bhaiya, aa jao. Zyada paise nahi loonga.”

I told him that I will only pay him Rs 20 as fare and nothing more. He did not reply and just gestured me to sit in his auto.

After a few minutes, when he left with me in his auto, he said that he would charge me Rs 40. I knew that he would apply this trick after I sat in his auto and decided to teach him a lesson.

I refused to pay him. He stopped the auto and asked me to step. Again I did not do his bidding and told him, “I will not leave your auto now. It was you who forced me to sit and before stepping inside I had clearly told you I will not pay you more than Rs 20. You did not oppose it then so now you have to drop me. You don’t have any choice.”

He threw his next card. He said, “Sir, I will drop you quickly, much faster than what a rickshaw would take. That’s why I’m asking you to pay more.”

“Listen, I was not in a hurry. I’m not going on a date. It would have been fine for me to travel by a rickshaw. It was you who was ready to drop me in 20 Rupees. There’s no use of you arguing with me,” I replied.

In his last attempt to get Rs 40, he said, “Bhaiya, it is my record that I charge a minimum of Rs 40 for any trip. It is the minimum amount one has to pay for hiring my auto. I hope you keep this record intact.”

I replied quickly, “You know, I love the fact that you keep this record. But by breaking your own record, you can reach higher in life. Look at Sachin Tendulkar. He’s broken his own record many times. You are just like Sachin and now you’ll take only Rs 20 for dropping me.”

He started to laugh at this and started his auto. After reaching my destination, I said, “The next time that I come to you, make a record of only charging me Rs 10 for the ame distance.” He laughed and went away.