Sunday, October 28, 2007

My new hairstyle

I always wanted to start a blog with something interesting incident in life. Something that is memorable/unforgettable. Well I know this one is neither memorable nor unforgettable. Being hit on the head with a stone by an illiterate auto rickshaw wala for refusing to shell out 8 extra bucks.

Yes, it happened to me over this weekend. I hired a rick from Raheja Gardens to Magarpatta where I was to see a school friend after close to some 10 years and catch up with a bunch others from Synygy who were putting up there.

It happened when I got off the rick by paying him the amount I have to according to the tariff. First, the guy told me I got to pay 50 bucks when I asked him how much I owe and when I saw the meter and calculated (the formula I know is x *6 +2, where X is the number of points on the meter) and it came out to Rs. 42 and I gave him 43 because I had some extra change and refused to give him any more and started walking away.

He took the money and demanded (not asked) more and when it was clear to him I was not going to give him any extra money he started badmouthing me but I kept walking and tried to avoid (didn’t want to get involved in a fight). But the last thing he said was real bad and I couldn’t control myself and asked him to step out of the rick. Don’t know what went through his mind but he tried to start the rick and flee away from the scene and also gave me a hint that he is having some sort of iron rod in the vehicle but I was not ready to give up unless I settled the score. Finally, I got the crook out and was talking to him and that was when he saw a stone near by and hit me once with it. It hit me but somehow didn’t hurt me. And by now people started noticing what is happening and even before I realized what was coming he picked up the same same stone and hit me on the head. I realized that he hit me with a stone only when my head started bleeding. Then the people gathered and over powered him and took him to the police station and lodged a complaint and ensure that he was behind the bars.

By evening I got some first aid done (they had to remove some hair so that the docs could get better view of the injury, and that explains why I had to go bald) and went back to the station, got an FIR lodged and ensured that this guy will never get to drive an auto in his life because he didn’t have a license and his case was passed on to the RTO for the cancellation of the permit (I mean the badge the auto wala’s are given, the bronze one in the shape of a triangle)

After all this I asked myself did I done something wrong? I don’t know but I think I am happy that I could get one of the thousand crooks to realize that asking for more money may cost much more. May be he will start controlling his anger the next time considering he lost Rs. 3000( I got them reimbursed for my ZARA shirt) which he tore during the scuttle and now drenched in blood. For extra 10 bucks he not only lost Rs. 3000 in cash, but also his earnings for the entire day, he has to pay the rent from his pocket for the auto from his pocket if he doesn’t own it and most importantly his time. Now, you may think I took this too far and was harsh on him taking Rs. 3000. I look at it this way, he gets beaten up the whole day he would be all right in a week’s time but the monetary loss would pinch him and would remind him the day throughout his life. Call me a villain, I don’t care but I think I have thought him a lesson. I know it is a costly one for him but he needed it badly. Tomorrow you may be in my place and you may or may not dare to what I did because you might have your family around but these crooks will get away and continue what they are and have been doing. And after a long time I felt I stood for something. I was hurt and I could have got hurt even more badly if the people around hadn’t have stopped him but I stood up for something with out that jaane do yaar attitude.

Throughout this there were friends 4 of my good friends, apparently 3 from Synygy working in the S/w organization and pals from the TT table (Thank you all guyz) and there was one stranger who saw this incident and volunteered to accompany me to the police station and be a witness to the episode. I think this guy showed a lot of courage, that too in a society where people run away from police, court for the pain they have to go through if something goes wrong.

Come back tomorrow for the post on the stranger who volunteered to accompany me to the station and be a witness in the whole case and my views on campaigns like Lead India kick started by TOI