In keeping with my love of talking about public transport,here I am going to tell you about my maiden auto riksha ride on my maiden trip to chennai last week.:).
Me and a few of my school buddies decided to meet at Ispahani Center (a mall) in Nungambakkam.I had no other means to reach there , but to take an auto.So i ventured out in the hot Chennai Sun looking for one.
I waved at the first empty auto that I saw,and well,it stopped.The driver wearing a shirt and a lungi looked at me and said something in tamil.
Me: Nungambakkam?
He: ########################## (Something fairly long in tamil,couldnt make out a single word)
Me:Tamil ille..English?Hindi?
He:(Smiling ) #############################
Me : (whats he saying...surely he is saying a lot of things.Even a shake of the head would have answered my question) Ispahani Center?Nungambakkam?Gemini Bus stop? ( a few keywords that I had asked my buddies to enrich me with)
He:############## HUNDRED RUPEES ############
Me : (finally..seems like I have a deal here..but why does he have to speak so much knowing that I cant understand tamil?) Thanks..(and I sit in the rick)
The meter in the rick looked cool..the readings were digital (as opposed to the mechanical meters in mumbai ricks).But then how does it matter.They dont use the meters anyway in Chennai.
After about half an hour of travelling,the auto driver slowed down and looked at me..
He: ########### nungambakkam ###########
Me:Ispahani Center?
He( his expression said that he did not know where that Ispahani Center is) ######### Gemini ##########
So we had come to Gemini,now the task was to find Ispahani Centre.It would be close by ,as I had been told.So I paid him 100 bucks and got out of the rick.
I stop a passer by.
Me:Excuse me,Where is Ispahani Center?
PB1: pata nahi jee,mein yahan naya aaya hoon
(oops..finally someone who understands hindi...but he doesnt know the place..what bad luck!)
I move on to the next passer by.
Me:Excuse me,Where is Ispahani Center?
PB2:###########
Me:Tamil ille..English??Hindi???
PB2:(smiling)#####(and he shows me a direction)
I start moving in that direction.Suddenly there is a shout (in tamil) from behind.Its PB2 shouting something at me.He is pointing towards a group of people near me.I am like ..What???He continued pointing towards those people (who are not looking at either of us).Finally I understood what he wanted to say.He did not know where the place is!!!.He had just told me to go and ask those people sitting there!Oh God!!
Fortunately,a few in that group of people could speak english,and as it turned out , knew where Ispahani Center was as well.After a few right and left turns (as explained by them),I finally reach the place.
Later on while reciting this entire incident to my buddies,I came to know that "tamil ille" actually means "there is no tamil" or "tamil does not exist". :P Ooops
