"Isiliye main door nahi jaata... wapas khali jaana padta hai..."

The minute the auto rickshaw came to a halt, my eager eyes moved to the meter. "153 hua", I uttered, getting up from my seat taking my recently bought navy blue back bag in my hand. "32 nahi bolte, 3.2 bolte hain"- these words of an elderly auto walla hit my mind instantly and I recalled how mortified I had felt that day! Hoping that this guy doesn't 'correct' me once again, I took my travelling bag out of the rickshaw and asked, "Kitne dene hain?". Considering that an afternoon drive from my hostel to Borivali station had once cost me Rs. 230, this 7 a.m. reverse drive should have cost lesser, around Rs. 180 - 190 I thought, so the number 153 was reasonable. "15.3 ke...", yeah yeah I thought, "246", he said, defying all the reason, rubbishing all my calculations.

Utterly flabbergasted, I asked for the conversion chart. It clearly read 197 in the column next to 15.3. But 246 was written in the 'Price with luggage' column of the chart. Luggage! What - this travel bag? or this back bag? "Kis baat ka luggage, ek hi to bag hai", I told him politely. "Nahi nahi luggage ka to banta hai, itni door wapas khaali jaana padega...", he spoke, almost prepared, giving me the most cliched excuse ever. "Akela hi tha main to, luggage ko doosra jana samajh lo...", I tried to give a comic but logical explanation. "Final karte hain, 230 de do...", he said thinking, I was bargaining with him!

Now came one of the hostel house - keepers to my aid, asking angrily, "Kya luggage, koi 200 - 300 kilo hai kya?!". "Nahi nahi luggage ka to banta hai, itni door wapas khaali jaana padega...", repeated the chalu auto walla, raising his voice slightly. "Ek hi to jana hai, ek bag bhi nahi hoga kya? Bina baat kyun lootte ho?" shouted the hero house keeper. "Aap de do mujhe jitna luggage ka banta hai... inka mat suno", said the chalu auto walla hoping that I would comply with his wish!

I took out two hundred rupee notes from my wallet and offered him the money. "Kyaaa...", said the disappointed auto walla. "10 rupay to do luggage ka...", he reduced his demand. "Kuchh mat do..." said the house keeper. In order to avoid any further arguments, I gave a ten rupee note to the auto walla. "Isiliye main door nahi jaata... wapas khali jaana padta hai... luggage ka...", mumbled the auto walla turning the rickshaw back. "Nahi dene ka tha... bina baat lootte hain...", told me the house keeper.

Another house keeper stopped the auto walla and yelled angrily, "Jhagda kyun karta hai... ek to lootta hai". "Wapas khali jaana padta hai... luggage ka to lete hain... yehi to milta hai", shouted the auto walla yet again - the same stupid explanation for the third time! "Iska number note karo", said house keeper no. 1 to the security guard sitting on his desk. I went with my luggage to my second floor room, hoping that it all ended there and then. But, guess what, it didn't!

When I came back to the ground floor after keeping my luggage, I saw the security guard complaining about the auto walla on the telephone. He handed over the phone to me instructing me to describe what had happened. The bechara auto walla had been stopped by the security at the main gate. "Bolo adhaai sau rupay liye...", told me house keeper no. 1, almost giggling. I told the security the truth. I heard the bechara auto walla explaining the security in a lamb - like voice "10 rupay hi to liye luggage ke... kya galat kiya". "Kya karna hai iska", asked the security at the main gate and I returned the phone to the security guard.

I don't know if in future, that auto walla will ask any other passenger with a single travelling bag Rs. 50 extra for luggage or not, but he'll surely remember this morning and the embarrassment he had to suffer courtesy the valiant house keepers of Hostel - 6, IIT Bombay!