Gandhi, I and Autos

Gandhi Jayanti is just to get this one rolling. When it comes to Gandhi, I have read his autobiography but cannot understand him. I have played his assassin in a monoacting bit from the anti-Gandhi play, 'Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy', with which I didn't agree one bit, but I still don't have an opinion. Sure he was a great man and stood for independence, a cause very dear to me, but he is difficult to relate to and much more difficult to follow. Perhaps my horizons of wisdom are not vast enough to comprehend his ideas.

Anyhow, this post is about an incident which wasn't exactly non-violent.

My partners in crime were 2 close buddies. These friends will henceforth be called I and I because calling them S and A will confuse that paltry lot of readers who better know them by their nicknames, which begin with I and I respectively.

One fine evening, as I was whiling away time on my computer, I buzzed me to ask if I wanted to watch Dev D. "I thought you'd never ask" I replied. I then dashed to I's room to convince him to tag along. Cutting short the chase, as I was haggling with an autowallah who was demanding Rs. 120, I had managed to find one who agreed to go for Rs. 60 to Woodlands.

This man took us to the Woodland restaurant while it was explained to him in no uncertain terms that our desired destination was Woodlands Theatre. So as he dropped us their, I gave him a Rs. 100 note and streched my palm for 40 in return. I was as surprised as me when the Autowallah returned Rs. 20. I, by the time, was already fuming due to the delay. Hence began the so very common sight of north Indian students haggling with an Autowallah in Chennai. This time around though, the mood was different. I was frustrated of being mooched of for 3 years by them. I had a strong desire to beat someone up and I was low on cash and wanted his 20 bucks.

So as the Autowallah was about to pull the lever in a bid to scurry off, I stomped on the lever. This made him very angry and he gave me a push. As if waiting for something like this, I twisted his hand as I caught him by his neck. I was now happily texting off a girl about this as I and I roughed him up.

Unlike Devdas the story has a happy ending as Abhay Deol tries to get his life back on track and doesn't die.

And oh, we got our 20 bucks back which we gave to the auto we came back in as he requested for it.

PS: I had claimed that the bone of contention was Rs. 20 but I pointed out that it was Rs. 10. So it would have cost each of us Rs. 3.33 to let go of the Autowalla. Cheap Bastards, aint we?