Another auto-adventure...

I sometimes think to myself "ok, that's it, i've seen it all, nothing about this country will surprise me now!" And each time again, i am wrong. Earlier today, I was trying to head back from Commercial Street to the apartment on Residency Road. The auto ride should cost about Rps 25. I talk to the first driver: "fly-over bridge on Residency Rd?". "No ma'am". "What do you mean "no"? No as in no, you don't know? No as in no, you don't want?". "No ma'am". Ok fine, next one: "Rps. 50 m'am" "50?! Ha! You're kidding. Nope, the meter, please." "No ma'am, the meter + Rps. 20, lot's of traffic!" Yeah right, it's not like at any other time there is no traffic, huh? Whatever, i am not in the mood to argue. Next one! "M'am come, come, Residency Rd, yes". "Meter?" "Sit, m'am" (with shake of the head...that means "yes, yes, don't worry, meter is fine". Aaaah there we go, see not that hard after all. Hmmm, wait, 2 min into the ride....the auto slows down (in the middle of a huge boulevard)...oho, what now? "No gas, m'am". Argh, I should have known. Ok, no worries, i'll take the next auto. "No, no, m'am, sit down." The guy gets out and stops another rickshaw-driver (although he has 3 passengers with him). They talk, they shake heads (lots of head shaking, it's a good sign!) and suddenly, there we go again. Huh, what, how? Am i seeing this right...yes, the other guy is driving his rickshaw, while pushing our rickshaw with his foot...cool, i call that solidarity...Ah! I see the gas station. But..wait...no, we are not going to the gas station, hmmm...interesting, is he going to push us all the way to Residency Rd? What about his passengers? At this point, i don't care and decide to just sit back, relax and see what happens. One big push, our rescue-rickshaw turn left, my guy jumps out of the rickshaw and starts pushing the riskshaw across the busy intersection (of course, it goes without saying that this is accompanied with lots of honking and swerving of the cross traffic he is blocking). Hmmm what now? You are not gonna push all the way till Residency Rd, are you? Noooo, the next street is down-hill! What a relieve. Driver jumps back in, there we go again...no braking, we need all the momentum we can get. "Get out of the way, you looser" (I feel like yelling at those stupid motorcycles stopping in front of us)...where is my honk? I wanna honk! Honk!...We finally get to a group of parked rickshaws and my driver shouts: "go m'am, go! Other auto!" and points at what, i presume, is his friend. Sigh, does it mean i will have to redo the whole "Residency Rd? Meter"-game? Perhaps. So i start "Meter?". The other auto driver looks at me and says: "Other auto has meter. You pay what is on other meter" and so he too starts pushing the other auto with his foot while driving. What?? You gonna push that other rick all the way, just for the meter? Seriously, i am not that into the meter, you know. Anyway, I must admit, this driver is pretty skilled. It's like an arcade game. On the small streets, he drives next to the other auto, all the while pushing it, then when someone (or something) is coming in the opposite direction, he gives the auto a big push, swerve behind it, and as soon as the other vehicle has passed, he starts pushing again. I am impressed. This is fun! Then he pushes a little too hard, and the other rick is propulsed 3 cars in front of us. He shakes his head and looks at me in the mirror. "yeah I know, it's not your fault the other drivers are not as skilled". Finally i tell him, not to worry about the meter. Just drop him at the gas station and get met to Residency Rd. Which is finally what he does. We get there, and he asks for Rps 30. Really? After all the entertainment you just provided me? I want to give you more!