Bangalore - Auto Negotiation, so to speak

Just another typical day at work, I think. I again tried the auto-rickshaw, sharing the ride home with Ramya, who did the negotiations for price. We tried about 4 or 5 autos, and found a guy who just agreed to take us for 60 rupees. As we approached her place, I could tell from his conversation that he was backing out of the deal. We dropped her off, and drove on toward my place. This guy said he knew exactly where my apartments were located; either not true, or he wanted to take the roundabout way to rack up the miles. All this time he’s talking about “petrol” this and “250” that... I half-pretend I don’t understand him (not really lying either - I can only understand about one word in 20 although it is pretty evident that he believes he is speaking English!). We finally pull in, and then auto guy really started to put the pressure on. We had agreed on 60 rupees - okay, maybe the guy didn’t know exactly where he was going. Recall that the night before, the meter for the exact same distance read 57, I figured 80 was fair again so offered him that.

No way was he having any of that, petrol used cost more than 200 rupees, so he needed 250 for some kind of profit. Well, I wasn’t going any higher than 80 either, so we were at a bit of an impasse - he would not take the money. The security guards from my complex came out, talked to everyone - he told them that he agreed to take Ramya to her place for 60, and me on from there! Flat-out lie, since her place is only 29 rupees distance having done it twice in two days! I laughed and told the guards this - translation going on, back and forth.... eventually, a white-shirted, very official-looking gentleman with a badge and a cap and all started walking up towards us - at this point the took my 80 rupees and I was free to walk away. It’s not the money, it’s the principle of it. Anyway, I now have made the process much more difficult for Ramya and Kaveesh to get autos: the local auto-drivers at Marathahalli now know they work with foreigners and will try to take them for as much as they can. I decide I probably won’t bother with this route anymore.