So many times recently, it was me and him going home in a rick. Phew! Too costly. But the body does not have the strength and courage to go for a bus at 9:45 pm. Atleast it pretends so. More so when it has experienced the comforts of a swift airy ride.
So it happens that as usual, I get out of the gate and show the rick begging hand accompanied with few forced tired words. After one or two misses, it is a hit. "Borivali?". The rickwallah gives a condescending nod. As soon as we get in, my colleague asked him," Meter thik hai na?". And the rickwallah says a non-chalant , "MH-03 hai. Thoda idhar udhar ho sakta hai." We got down and I asked my office mate what made him ask that question. He said, "MH-03 tha. isliye poocha."
And then came the revelation. Apparently, MH-03 ricks (also nicknamed Ghatkopar ricks) are infamous for having rigged meters. More the distance, more the loot. That is when I started observing that the only ricks that were going empty were the "Maha Shoonya Teen"s with MH-02 scattered sparsely. A Google search after returning home also confirmed the allegation. In fact, the very next day, I tried my hand at the MH-03 for a short distance near office which will generally cost me around Rs.14. The meter screamed a Rs. 20. Thanks to the enlightenment attained under the Bodhirickshaw a day ago, I had already cleared matters with the rickwallah confirming that I will only pay what I generally do for that distance.
Made me wonder how much I have lost already within my tenure here... what about ppl who are not aware of this? Suno bhaai suno..
