It was 10:15 PM on a monday night and I decided to take an auto
after waiting 20 mins for any sign of a BMTC bus!! Auto driver informed
me as I stepped into it..”one and half aguthe saar” implying it will
cost me one and half, to which I agreed helplessly!! We stopped at the
DG bunk signal when another auto zipped past us. Auto driver, who was
quiet until then, started explaining to me the perils of jumping a
signal. According to him, it not only puts the people in danger, there
is the additional threat to the driver’s license!! I was amazed at his
knowledge of the latest developments in the traffic division. He
informed me that cameras have been newly installed in 150 traffic
signals(DG bunk being one of them) in bangalore, with the plan
toincrease them to 600 by the end of this year!! However, he was more
concerned with the fact that three traffic violations in a single month
could lead to the cancellation of the Driver’s License!!He even pointed
me to the new seat belt rule, which could also lead to the DL
cancellation !! According to him, R. Ashok – Minister for Home and
Transport, was the culprit behind these laws which sounded ridiculous to
him. Collection of fines was acceptable but he signal jumping was a
“necessity” under emergencies(or any justifiable situations) for which
DL cancellation sounded disastrous and unjust.
He rambled on for few more minutes on the same topic and I wasn’t sure if he was supporting the new rules or turning against them as he added points equally for both!! Once he had cooled down, I was able to get some details about his personal life. Nagaraju is an auto driver aged 35 who lives with his Wife and 2 kids aged 14 and 12 (yes, he married early
). He answered, rather proudly, that his was a love marriage when I
inquired about the reasons for getting married so early. He was born and
brought up in bangalore and he drifted on to the topic of the increased
cost of living in the city. “shanthi sagar alli naaku vare rupai ondu
masala dose thindre hotte thumbogthithu, eega adhe dose 24 rupai.. aadru
10 thindru hotte thumballa” which translates to “few years ago, a
single masala dosa in shanti sagar was sufficient to fill ur stomach and
costed only 4 and half rupees, but now the same dosa costs 24 rupees
and yet you cannot be sure if it can fill ur tummy!!” he complains about
the exponential increase in the prices and the degraded quality of
products. And he launched a war against the increasing fuel prices and
how it affected his life to a larger extent as his daily bread depended
on it!! He took a dig at the politicians as well and the current state
of karnataka politics which is in shambles saying .. “ee baddi makkalu
avr mane katkoLakke nam kaasu odithare sir, naave namge dhudko beku,
naanu ivrge vote hakodu niLsbittidini eega eradu varshadinda!!” “these
Idiots(or something more abusive) use our money to build their homes,
there is no use trusting them, we should only earn money by working
hard, I have even stopped voting for these guys from the past 2 years!!”
to which I responded with a lengthy speech on the importance of a
single vote and how he is not utilizing the power he has to choose the
right leader. I had very less time in which to convince him to vote
again as we were nearing my home. He then confessed with me that he had
wasted most of that day in searchof his friend(who owed him money) which
ended unsuccessfully and he had not earned enough for that day. He was
feeling a little guilty but it was clear to me that he was scared of his
wife(who isn’t??) and her reaction. I reached home, paid him and bid
him good night!! I started a little research on few facts that he
mentioned and most of them turned out to be true… there indeed has been a
steep rise in the fuel prices in the past few years among other things
making it even harder for many people like Nagaraju to survive!!
He rambled on for few more minutes on the same topic and I wasn’t sure if he was supporting the new rules or turning against them as he added points equally for both!! Once he had cooled down, I was able to get some details about his personal life. Nagaraju is an auto driver aged 35 who lives with his Wife and 2 kids aged 14 and 12 (yes, he married early
). He answered, rather proudly, that his was a love marriage when I
inquired about the reasons for getting married so early. He was born and
brought up in bangalore and he drifted on to the topic of the increased
cost of living in the city. “shanthi sagar alli naaku vare rupai ondu
masala dose thindre hotte thumbogthithu, eega adhe dose 24 rupai.. aadru
10 thindru hotte thumballa” which translates to “few years ago, a
single masala dosa in shanti sagar was sufficient to fill ur stomach and
costed only 4 and half rupees, but now the same dosa costs 24 rupees
and yet you cannot be sure if it can fill ur tummy!!” he complains about
the exponential increase in the prices and the degraded quality of
products. And he launched a war against the increasing fuel prices and
how it affected his life to a larger extent as his daily bread depended
on it!! He took a dig at the politicians as well and the current state
of karnataka politics which is in shambles saying .. “ee baddi makkalu
avr mane katkoLakke nam kaasu odithare sir, naave namge dhudko beku,
naanu ivrge vote hakodu niLsbittidini eega eradu varshadinda!!” “these
Idiots(or something more abusive) use our money to build their homes,
there is no use trusting them, we should only earn money by working
hard, I have even stopped voting for these guys from the past 2 years!!”
to which I responded with a lengthy speech on the importance of a
single vote and how he is not utilizing the power he has to choose the
right leader. I had very less time in which to convince him to vote
again as we were nearing my home. He then confessed with me that he had
wasted most of that day in searchof his friend(who owed him money) which
ended unsuccessfully and he had not earned enough for that day. He was
feeling a little guilty but it was clear to me that he was scared of his
wife(who isn’t??) and her reaction. I reached home, paid him and bid
him good night!! I started a little research on few facts that he
mentioned and most of them turned out to be true… there indeed has been a
steep rise in the fuel prices in the past few years among other things
making it even harder for many people like Nagaraju to survive!!