to learn marathi. so that i can parlay as a local and be told the right price rather than be quoted extra (sometimes exorbitant) sums thinking i can be taken for a ride. its a running joke that when a policeman stops you, he charges rs100 from the English speaking, rs50 from the Hindi speaking and rs20 from the Marathi speaking!
this morning, had to take the daughter for skating classes to school. so, we rushed to the rickshaw stand, where the lone rickshaw driver said he'll take us all the way only for rs100. i told him it was ridiculous because i do this stint at least twice a week because that's how many times we miss one of the school buses in a good week.
this man refused to budge. luckily, an empty rickshaw was passing by and we hailed it and thankfully he remembered me from the umpteen trips to school in his rickshaw. we reached acceptably late, but were told at the school gate that the kids had been notified of the cancellation of today's skating classes.
the confusion was cleared when i figured out that the daughter's class teacher had been on leave yesterday. hence, the kids in her class were not properly notified, that is written in school diaries and signed by the teacher!
well, then we had to walk half a kilometre to the nearest rickshaw stand (can't believe that the lack of traffic nearby was one of the pluses i found in the school), where i was quoted rs100 again. this time i did not have the will to fight, though i did tell him it was not right. he had the decency (really?) to charge an extra ten bucks.
pointless. pointless, this morning, yaar. i am going to order pizza tonight and drown my moroseness in cranberry or whatever breezers. happy weekend to you all.
opposite the shop where we buy chicken
PS
this happened in Navi Mumbai.
6 comments:
It was the opposite in Blr...speak in Hindi and get charged a higher price than if you were speaking in English!
Hope you enjoyed your pizza! I love ordering one on thursday nights...good way to get the weekend going!
Lol, I like the way after it all, you write so nonchalantly, this is opposite where we buy chicken. Nice ending :-)
Oh and my word verification: mently! Yes, most definitely!
i love ordering pizzas most nights, especially if the kids sleep early. i'll sit by myself and watch the cheesy serials on tv. bliss.
lol. the crux of my post, or the word most prominent in my thoughts on the ride back was 'pointless.' and, i thought a picture with no point at all was like the perfect to show the pointlessness of it all.
...though i've learnt five words from the maid already!
oh yes!!
You weave your words and pictures together very well. And you definitely underestimate the power of your writing.
*smiles*
thank you
*acts mysterious*
now LOL for real.
but, really, thank you :)
Oops.. I get those days too. Hope you enjoyed your pizza - thought that was a super idea to turn the graph of the day a bit up :)
After many years of not knowing kannada, I finally attended some classes. Can manage to speak, and read very slowly - may not be grammatically correct, but I can definitely talk my way through a lot of stuff as opposed to getting cheated!
actually, this happens only in new bombay. townside or proper bombay, taxis charge lesser than autos and always, by the meter. they also are warm to talk to and by God, how they know those little roads and alleys of the city. *respect*
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