Me and my friends just had a pleasant and refreshing trip to Hyderabad . As all cities in India the roads here are overrun with speeding motorists . Being a regular commuter of the roads of Mumbai I was amazed at the amount of two wheelers and rickshaws that can be crammed onto the roads of Hyderabad . The drivers dont seem to mind that the distances between their vehicles is about to become non-existent . The general train of thought seems to be ' its okay if the vehicles arent in contact with eachother ' be it in a traffic signal standstill or a peakhour rush . Crossing the roads is no mean feat . Wait for the signals to go red and then try to cut your way through to the otherside . I am a slim guy by all proportions and yet i found it difficult to manouver through the traffic waiting for the signal to go green .
Amidst all this come the dastardly villians of this story . I refer to the Rickshaw-wallahas . These monopolists who would have you give away your entire fortune if you did not know how to haggle with them. If ever in Hyderabad and faced with these rats do not keep a cool attitude and think that hey he's going by the meter because the meter just might be compromised . Here are a few experiences the group had :
Day one : Hyderabad station to Mallak pet charmas
distance 6 kms approx expected fare rs. 50
Nikhil and Keshav get cheated off about rs. 75 as they have luggage which is funny because all of us HAD LUGGAGE and the other two ricks had 3 people each to them .
Day two : At Salar Jung Museum
We dint ride a rickshaw as we had hired a cab but we were offered to get ourselves robbed by two rickshaw-wallahs while waiting for our cab near the museum . One rick-driver was pleasant enough to point out the chief attractions of the city and the order in which they can be visited so as to save time and money .
Day three :Mallak pet Charmas to Snow world
distance 5kms approx expected fare rs. 45
Nikhil, Akshay and Vivek were looted when the rick-driver took them from a longer road only to charge them rs. 90 where Prashant, me and Keshav payed rs. 45.
Snow world to Necklace road station .
distance 4.5 kms approx expected fare rs 40
Nikhil , Akshay and Vivek were driven all the way to Secundarabad station near Necklace road from Snow world by a rick-driver with brains enough to fill an egg-cup . When asked if this was Necklace road station , the driver processed this query in his own stride and answered yes to Necklace road and another yes to station ( Secunderabad ) . Luckily one of our guys spotted the anomaly and after a cellfone conversation with Keshav they asked the rick-driver to take them to the Police station or Necklace road station . The rick-driver had to comply and that too at the promised fare of rs. 35 . He must have felt like pulling his hair out . Score one to Nikhil for suggesting the Police station .
Koti to Mallak pet Charmas
distance 3 kms approx expected fare rs. 30
The ricks are plenty at Koti but none seem to like the idea of coming to Mallak pet Charmas as the distance isn't too much . Along comes a rickshaw-wallah who wants to make the six of us counting Vivek , Nikhil , Keshav , Prashant , Akshay and me into his very much unlike stretch limo rick . The ass had the balls to ask me to sit beside him on the narrow strip of metal on which the driver's seat is fixed . He was assuring me safe transport . Considerng the peak time Hyderabad traffic one can only assuresafe transport if one were to board an army tank . The buster got my temper boiling by his persistence and especially by trying to grab my hand as if I would not object once he got me to sit down . He would have been in for more than harsh words had Nikhil not intervened and asked him to be off .
Day four : Ramoji film city was a sight .
Thank goodness Keshav drove us there in a Swift.
Day five : Mallak pet to Necklace road Prasad's Imax mall and theatre .
distance 6 kms approx expected fare rs. 50
Vivek , Sadanand and Akshay got ripped off rs.70 odd where the others payed rs. 50 - 60 .
The rick-driver was all cocky about how he was according to the meter and the fare was just . By now we were familiar with this bullcrap attitude and started haggling . Another rather sallow looking specimen of the species joined in the proceedings . Police ke paas chalo wasnt enough and we were going to miss the 3D show ' Space Station ' at Imax so we had to drop the ordeal and be content by threatening to press charges . We took a photo of the number plate of the rick while the other rick-driver was muttering something about the union . From inside the mall I could see the driver in concern smoking a bidi with a look on his face that suggested emotional turmoil . I hope he wasn't able to sleep that night . The mall was more like a squatting spot than anything else .
On the way back the rick fare ran upto rs. 150 as it was HALF RETURN TIME which starts at around 10 pm .
Day six : Shopping for foodstuffs
The gods smile down on us as Keshav , Nikhil and I get to shop for tidbits to take back home without much confrontations with rickshaw-wallahs . At a point Nikhil thought he was jinxed and the ricks were only being unfair to him .
Journey back
Keshav's brother Raja drove me n Nikhil with most of the luggage to Hyderabad station while the others took rickshaws . Judging by the general direction of the conversation the swines had let them off easy as if saying " Fare well ! "
But let me tell you none of us was gonna say " Enchanted to meet you " to the Hyderabad Rickshaw-wallah .
