How strong are you?
Some weeks back, my wife went out of the town for a project release for a couple of days and I had to deal with a bachelor's life for two long (OK, may be not that long) days. I did not get much time to stay at home as I had to finish the pre-joining procedures for my new job. In those two days, I managed to get clicked a horrifying image of mine (again) for the employee id card, had pizza for lunch, had a back breaking 1400 kilometres journey in two days.
Well, there was no one to monitor me for two days and did I get in to trouble? Yes, I managed to get in to a bit of it. I was on the way to board my bus to Kerala (the first 700 kms of 1400) and it was too early to reach the boarding point, considering the fact that most of the buses operating in this route start at least 45 minutes late. I thought of catching up with my friend and got down near the forum mall and gave him a call.
The unexpected happened then, I was on the footpath, which also serves as a parking space for auto rickshaws. And an auto rickshaw driver, who had enough space to park despite of my existence, parked the vehicle as close as possible to me. Now that I am trapped between the auto rickshaw and the iron railings and could hardly move. He smiled playfully watching my plight and as obvious, I was helpless.
Somehow freed myself, I tried to understand the logic behind the action from him and the response was not very logical. I thought of clicking the image of his vehicle's license plate, if I want a proof for raising a police complaint later on. Demanding me to delete the image of his license plate (which I could not click), he came at me with all the fury, with an intent to physically hurt.
That was the moment of truth.
I was scared that I was confronted by an auto driver who hardly cares about the human rights or logic. Furthermore, I was in his forte, with a lot of auto driving counterparts around. But I stayed back. I knew that I am not in a position to physically reiterate, but then I did not run. I told him to calm down and that I did not click the image. Another guy (who was an acquaintance of the auto driver) told me it's not good to fight with these guys as they might go to extremes. I tried convincing him that the mistake was from his side, but in vain. He warned me that do not take it up with the police or I will have a tough time, which I promptly replied I am going to take it forward for sure. At that moment, I saw fear and anxiety in the face of the thug turned auto driver (no, not the other way around) and to be honest, I enjoyed the moment. I did not take that forward with the police, as I was on the verge of a new beginning.
Anyway, this incident made me think about two things. 1) How strong really am I to face an uncalled for situation like this? 2) What will I do if it is repeated? The answers were 1) There is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to my strength. if he had slapped me, it would've been all together a different story. Besides though I did not run away, I was scared. 2) Stay strong.
I don't think that I have to be physically strong to deal with such scenarios, but physical strength can add a lot more confident to deal with it. Physical violence is not my cup of tea, staying strong is.
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Note to Domestic and international travellers to Bangalore, always go for a reputed cab service provider. There are only a very few nice auto rickshaw drivers in Bangalore, the probabilities are more that you might end up fighting with a not-so-nice one!
Well, there was no one to monitor me for two days and did I get in to trouble? Yes, I managed to get in to a bit of it. I was on the way to board my bus to Kerala (the first 700 kms of 1400) and it was too early to reach the boarding point, considering the fact that most of the buses operating in this route start at least 45 minutes late. I thought of catching up with my friend and got down near the forum mall and gave him a call.
The unexpected happened then, I was on the footpath, which also serves as a parking space for auto rickshaws. And an auto rickshaw driver, who had enough space to park despite of my existence, parked the vehicle as close as possible to me. Now that I am trapped between the auto rickshaw and the iron railings and could hardly move. He smiled playfully watching my plight and as obvious, I was helpless.
Somehow freed myself, I tried to understand the logic behind the action from him and the response was not very logical. I thought of clicking the image of his vehicle's license plate, if I want a proof for raising a police complaint later on. Demanding me to delete the image of his license plate (which I could not click), he came at me with all the fury, with an intent to physically hurt.
That was the moment of truth.
I was scared that I was confronted by an auto driver who hardly cares about the human rights or logic. Furthermore, I was in his forte, with a lot of auto driving counterparts around. But I stayed back. I knew that I am not in a position to physically reiterate, but then I did not run. I told him to calm down and that I did not click the image. Another guy (who was an acquaintance of the auto driver) told me it's not good to fight with these guys as they might go to extremes. I tried convincing him that the mistake was from his side, but in vain. He warned me that do not take it up with the police or I will have a tough time, which I promptly replied I am going to take it forward for sure. At that moment, I saw fear and anxiety in the face of the thug turned auto driver (no, not the other way around) and to be honest, I enjoyed the moment. I did not take that forward with the police, as I was on the verge of a new beginning.
Anyway, this incident made me think about two things. 1) How strong really am I to face an uncalled for situation like this? 2) What will I do if it is repeated? The answers were 1) There is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to my strength. if he had slapped me, it would've been all together a different story. Besides though I did not run away, I was scared. 2) Stay strong.
I don't think that I have to be physically strong to deal with such scenarios, but physical strength can add a lot more confident to deal with it. Physical violence is not my cup of tea, staying strong is.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note to Domestic and international travellers to Bangalore, always go for a reputed cab service provider. There are only a very few nice auto rickshaw drivers in Bangalore, the probabilities are more that you might end up fighting with a not-so-nice one!
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