How to make your auto/taxi ride interesting

Whenever I take an auto or a taxi ride (which is quite rare... I usually take my own vehicle everywhere or I take the bus), I chat up with the driver during the ride. These chats kill my boredom, as well as give me a glimpse of how these people think. The topics discussed and the viewpoints expressed are radically different from those at my office lunch table.

Rarely have I seen an auto or taxi driver who is not interested in chatting. Most of them have very strong opinions about things around them and will not shy away from expressing them. Be it Rajanikanth's health, Yeddyurappa's wealth, Veerappan's death, Katrina Kaif's dancing skills, Upendra's dialogue delivery, quality of traffic in Bangalore, rains, ration cards... anything. Also, their perspective of things is very different from your friends/colleagues. An auto driver once said the worst drivers in Bangalore, starting from the worst, were 2-wheelers, BMTC, BPO taxis, private cars and then autos! A taxi driver said it is insulting for the man to let a woman drive... he would never let his future wife do that! Another talked about how teenage boy/girl pair behave in the passenger seat of his auto and what he does to prevent that. Yet another told me that he knew everything about Mumbai because he visited the city some 15 years ago for 2 days. On one occasion an auto driver refused to turn the meter on, but told me a figure that was pretty much what the actual metered amount was going to be. During the ride, I asked him why he did that. He said "Sir, if I knew you were a localite I would have started the meter... I try to avoid traffic junctions by taking interior roads... outsiders who are not familiar with the roads think I am taking a circutous route and complain "ghuma diya"! Hence to avoid all the trouble I fix the cost beforehand!

Most of them, when narrating some incidence that happened in their life, the road, blow up their role with lots of masala. This is especially true when they are talking about their verbal or physical fights with others. It appears that they add up some of the characteristics of their favorite screen hero while talking about themselves.

Another topic they are usually eager to talk about is their financial condition... most autos and taxis are not driven by the owners, so they will have many things to say about the owner of the vehicle.

Finally, one last interesting incidence. This taxi driver had seemed to be especially well behaved and cultured. He was driving for 1.5 hours in busy traffic and was at a signal wanting to turn left. A couple of cars which were in wrong lanes had blocked our left turn. My driver turned restless and started honking. Immediately, the driver of the Innova in front of us got down and started charging towards us. He was a tall, decent looking man dressed in jeans, a kurta and a rudraksha chain around his neck with kumkum on his forehead. He looked like the owner of the Innova and he must have been from a well to do family. To my horror he started shouting unimaginable obscenities at my driver, tried to pull him out of the car and landed a couple of blows on his face. My driver was startled, but realizing the situation was not in his favour, went on defense mode, pleading guilty and begging the other guy to stop. Then the signals turned green and the guy went back to his car and drove away. I was slightly shocked from what happened, but I would have never anticipated what happened next. The driver called someone on his mobile and complained. No, not the police. He called someone who he called "Anna" (brother), gave him description of the car, it's registration number and the guy's description. I asked him "Who did you call and what will they do to him?" "We have our own support system sir. They will take care of him". He refused to say anything more than this. A chill ran down my spine, imagining all sorts of things "taking care" could mean!