Ethnotale: Up Close and Personal

We’ll be bringing you some of Kazuyo and John’s experiences in India over the next several weeks…

Negotiating with an Auto-Rickshaw Driver
One morning, I went to a fancy hotel in Bangalore to do context mapping.  The hotel people were horrified that I was planning to hail an auto-rickshaw to go there.  No problem!  I hailed one and got there for 15 rupees.  So I tipped him and gave him 20 rupees.  On the way back, I hail one, and give him my hotel address. He nodded and I got in.  He doesn’t push the button to start a meter, I say it to him, “Please start a meter” and he tells me that it would cost me 30 rupees.  I look at him, and say “It cost me 14 rupees to get here.”  He shook his head and said, “No, 30 rupees.”  I kept saying “No,” and asked him to start his meter.  He refused.  I told him that I would get out and find another one.  He thought I was bluffing because I was a foreigner, but he found out that I was not bluffing shortly thereafter!

Auto-rickshaw can go anywhere…except for a herd of cows
It’s not uncommon to see a cow in Bangalore, and I met/saw them frequently. They hang out on the street, on the road, in very random places.  Auto-rickshaws are smaller than cars, so they can go through a small alley and can go through dirt roads, mud, etc. But even auto-rickshaw wouldn’t go through a herd of cows, and we had to trail behind them on the dirt road for quite a while!