Another reason I hate Autos is that I lose things in them.
They are small. The Autos that is. They make a dodgem car seem like a stretch limo. This doesn't seem to worry the locals too much who have no problem cramming entire generations of their family into them for the school run. But for us Westerners with our love of personal space and breathing things can seem rather cramped.
If your carrying a few bags of groceries and your laptop, then the problem is exemplified. The only place to put your shopping is on the small shelf behind the passenger seat. They may be safe there but they also out of sight, and therefore out of mind.
Unfortunately in my case this is frequently where they remain when I get out.
The stress of haggling the fare with driver and/or worrying that the agreed fare is actually what we agreed, means that when we reach our destination my mind is often elsewhere and my body wants to follow unencumbered. I usually get out promptly, thrust the 'correct' amount of ruppees at the driver, turn and walk briskly away. Ignoring any or all requests/calls/pleas/crying/begging along the lines of ' Sir! Sir! More! 10 rupees waiting time etc..'
The upshot is that in the relatively short time I have been here I have already lost;
1 bag of shopping from the Mercado Deli in Besant Nagar -contents included a jar of Bonne Maman (very expensive) Orange Marmalade. (Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!)
1 Pair of dark blue Adidas Football Shorts.
1 Compaq 510 Laptop in its case along with 1 Daler A4 black hardbound sketchbook.
The only thing I was particularly upset about in the above list was the sketchbook, (and possibly the marmalade the morning following its loss.) The shorts too I could live without
However the laptop is/was the property of Raffles Millennium College, and so procedures had to be followed and a full report filed to the police.
And so on a Monday afternoon Umamageswaran (Uma) the I.T. technician (who else) and I took and Auto down to Besant Nagar nick (police station).
Now Police station waiting rooms are nobody's idea of a favourite hangout I guess.
But while Uma wrote a full and detailed account of my stupidity in his best handwriting I had plenty of time to ponder the utter drabness of the interior decor (or lack thereof,)
India is nothing if not colourful, but stepping inside Besant Nagars version of Precinct 13 was akin to entering not so much a black hole as a dark brown one. One from which no light could escape much less anyone unfortunate enough to have been taken in custody,
My eyes fell upon the poster behind the (Female) duty sergeants desk. Who was by the way warily eyeing Umas statement whilst he wrote, and looked as though she would relish the opportunity to arrest him for poor grammar, or (more likely) kosh him for a spelling mistake.
Anyway back to the poster. Actually it wasn't so much a poster as a large list of numbered bullet points of statistical crime data in the Besant Nagar vicinity. Including helpfully:
10.Crime Prone Areas, and 11, Prohibition Black Spots. Obviously its my sincere wish to avoid both of those, but it was No 15. which really stood out
15. NO OF BAD CHARACTERS
This had a sublist
HD -Nil
DC -Nil
KD -Nil
Rowdies- 7
A sense of relief washed over me. No HDs ( Heroin Dealers? Hard Dicks? Hairy Dorks?)
No DC's (Dirty Coppers? Drunken Crazies? ) No KD's (Ketamine Dealers? Killer Dogs?)
and only 7 Rowdies! There's more Rowdies than that at a Parbold Village Womens Institute meeting
(and come to think of it probably more Ketamine dealers too)
Besant Nagar is obviously a very safe neighbourhood. Im so glad I moved here.
Thank God for the boys in blue (or brown n khaki to be accurate)
I only hope its a recent poster. Although I have my doubts on that score.
Eventually Uma finished writing the report. It must have been OK because the duty sergeant didnt arrest or kosh him, in fact she seemed to be almost smiling and joking with Uma by this stage, and I wondered for minute if love might be in the air along with the stench of custodial fear, blood, urine and sweat.
Then it was handed to me for verification on the accuracy of the events as portrayed. To be honest I couldn't really read his handwritng but I signed anyway. No doubt I may face a perjury charge someway down the line and end up as a statistic on the poster. NF (Naughty Foreigner)
They are small. The Autos that is. They make a dodgem car seem like a stretch limo. This doesn't seem to worry the locals too much who have no problem cramming entire generations of their family into them for the school run. But for us Westerners with our love of personal space and breathing things can seem rather cramped.
If your carrying a few bags of groceries and your laptop, then the problem is exemplified. The only place to put your shopping is on the small shelf behind the passenger seat. They may be safe there but they also out of sight, and therefore out of mind.
Unfortunately in my case this is frequently where they remain when I get out.
The stress of haggling the fare with driver and/or worrying that the agreed fare is actually what we agreed, means that when we reach our destination my mind is often elsewhere and my body wants to follow unencumbered. I usually get out promptly, thrust the 'correct' amount of ruppees at the driver, turn and walk briskly away. Ignoring any or all requests/calls/pleas/crying/begging along the lines of ' Sir! Sir! More! 10 rupees waiting time etc..'
The upshot is that in the relatively short time I have been here I have already lost;
1 bag of shopping from the Mercado Deli in Besant Nagar -contents included a jar of Bonne Maman (very expensive) Orange Marmalade. (Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!)
1 Pair of dark blue Adidas Football Shorts.
1 Compaq 510 Laptop in its case along with 1 Daler A4 black hardbound sketchbook.
The only thing I was particularly upset about in the above list was the sketchbook, (and possibly the marmalade the morning following its loss.) The shorts too I could live without
However the laptop is/was the property of Raffles Millennium College, and so procedures had to be followed and a full report filed to the police.
And so on a Monday afternoon Umamageswaran (Uma) the I.T. technician (who else) and I took and Auto down to Besant Nagar nick (police station).
Now Police station waiting rooms are nobody's idea of a favourite hangout I guess.
But while Uma wrote a full and detailed account of my stupidity in his best handwriting I had plenty of time to ponder the utter drabness of the interior decor (or lack thereof,)
India is nothing if not colourful, but stepping inside Besant Nagars version of Precinct 13 was akin to entering not so much a black hole as a dark brown one. One from which no light could escape much less anyone unfortunate enough to have been taken in custody,
My eyes fell upon the poster behind the (Female) duty sergeants desk. Who was by the way warily eyeing Umas statement whilst he wrote, and looked as though she would relish the opportunity to arrest him for poor grammar, or (more likely) kosh him for a spelling mistake.
Anyway back to the poster. Actually it wasn't so much a poster as a large list of numbered bullet points of statistical crime data in the Besant Nagar vicinity. Including helpfully:
10.Crime Prone Areas, and 11, Prohibition Black Spots. Obviously its my sincere wish to avoid both of those, but it was No 15. which really stood out
15. NO OF BAD CHARACTERS
This had a sublist
HD -Nil
DC -Nil
KD -Nil
Rowdies- 7
A sense of relief washed over me. No HDs ( Heroin Dealers? Hard Dicks? Hairy Dorks?)
No DC's (Dirty Coppers? Drunken Crazies? ) No KD's (Ketamine Dealers? Killer Dogs?)
and only 7 Rowdies! There's more Rowdies than that at a Parbold Village Womens Institute meeting
(and come to think of it probably more Ketamine dealers too)
Besant Nagar is obviously a very safe neighbourhood. Im so glad I moved here.
Thank God for the boys in blue (or brown n khaki to be accurate)
I only hope its a recent poster. Although I have my doubts on that score.
Eventually Uma finished writing the report. It must have been OK because the duty sergeant didnt arrest or kosh him, in fact she seemed to be almost smiling and joking with Uma by this stage, and I wondered for minute if love might be in the air along with the stench of custodial fear, blood, urine and sweat.
Then it was handed to me for verification on the accuracy of the events as portrayed. To be honest I couldn't really read his handwritng but I signed anyway. No doubt I may face a perjury charge someway down the line and end up as a statistic on the poster. NF (Naughty Foreigner)
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| Spell Bound |
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| Joined up writing please |
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| Besant Nagar Crime Stats |
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