The following is something I’d written a while ago in a “learn kannada” forum… Real life incidents though not exactly verbatim…
Auto-rickshaw drivers of Bangalore nowadays have become more selective than infy in ‘choosing’ their ‘projects’! They usually refuse to go wherever a passenger wants to go, and drive off, and one has to stop several autos before getting a ride 😈 All these are unrelated incidents…
—-
So I stop one and ask:
Me: yellige hogthaidira? (where are you going?)
Driver: neev yellige hobeku?? (where do you want to go??)
Me: naanu malleswarammige hobeku, neevu aakaDe hogongidre doD mans maaDi
swalpa drop koDak aaguta?
I need to go to Malleswaram, if you’re going that way can you be a bit
magnanimous and give me a drop?
Driver [laughing] : banni koothkoLi (come and sit)
————–
Me: Malleshwaramige barthira? (will you come to Malleswaram)
Driver: Malleswaram illa (no Malleswaram)
[He’s about to drive off…]
Me: illa reee, beLege taane alle ittu! (no sir, in the morning it was right
there!)
Driver: [laughs] seri, koothkoLi (ok, sit)
——–
Driver: [stopping at red light, though there is a free left turn]
Me:
free left ide togoLi parvaagilla (there’s a free left, take it, its ok)
Driver takes the free left
Me, couldn’t resist adding:
nanag yenanthe, police hiDkondre neeve taane fine kaTTbekaagirouru
(what for me, if police catch (you), you’re the one who has to pay the fine)
Driver:
aaaaha!! matte free left andri!!!
(you said free left!!)
Me:
chinte maaDbEdi, sumne tamaashige heLde ashTe, nijavaaglu free left ide
(worry not, I was just kidding, its really a free left)
————-
Signaled for an auto on the other side of the road. He just starts taking a U turn and a passing car sweres to the center of the road narrowly missing him (and continues). Then the road is empty and he takes the turn and comes to me.
Me:
ushaar ree swamy, giraaki nODid takshNa bere yenu bEkAgilva?
(careful sir, the moment you see the customer don’t you need anything else?)
Driver:
shrugs his shoulders
Me [pausing about to get into the auto] :
nanag yenu AgtAirlila. aa carige swalpa scratch bitre yenu AgtAirlila. nimma
auto puDi puDi aagi nimma shareerada bhaagagaLannella bhUtakannaDi itkondu
hudukbekaagtaittu.
(Nothing would’ve happened to me. Except for a few scratches nothing
would’ve happened to the car. Your auto would’ve been powdered, and we’d
have to look for the parts of your body using a magnifying lens).
[From the look of the driver, I think he did get the point! 😛 ]
————-
[stopping an auto]
Me: yellige hogthaidira? (where are you going?)
This guy gave a quizzical look, and without losing his balance replied ‘Rajajinagarge hogthaidini’
Me: seri, hobuT banni (ok, carry on)
He: smiling understandably, zips off!
————-
[sitting in an auto]
Driver: ee cargaLinda namige sikkaapatte tondre saar! roadnalli vodsake aagalla! (we get a lot of trouble from cars, we can hardly drive on the road!)
[I was totally zapped, because most car and every other kind of driver on the road finds the ubiquitous autos the greatest obstruction to traffic!]
Me: yelru nimbagge adanne heLtharalri!! (everyone says the same thing about you guys!!)
Driver explains: neeve nODi, namma auto yesht chikkadu, aadre car munde ardha kilometer, hinde onduvare kilometer, idI rasthe ne thogoLuthe! (you only see, our auto is so small, but the car is half a km length in front and one and a half km behind and occupies the whole road!)
—–
Auto-rickshaw drivers are known to be a fussy lot – with sometimes obnoxiously polluting vehicles, many of them get licenses through corrupt ways totally ignorant of the traffic rules (and others who don’t care!).
On the other hand, they also make great conversationalists. They’re generally spread the use of Kannada, but many of them also speak in Hindi and other languages. They have often been known to return valuables left behind in their autos, either tracing the passenger or handing it over to the police station – even when it comes to lakhs of rupees! They’re the first ones anyone can ask for reliable directions to any place 
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