Rickshaw Diaries
You get into a rickshaw, order the rickshaw-puller in a commanding voice "FORWARD!". Being devoid of testosterone compared to your charged up alpha-male ego. He scrambles onto his pedals and pulls you forward, disregarding the fact that 'forward' might mean the ends of Middle-Earth. After pulling for ten or twenty minutes, you offer him ten taka, which he meekly refuses and smiles. You rage at this preposterous display of obstinacy. You have two options, either pay him his deserved fare or put your ten taka worth of honour on the line in a fight. You might wanna check the reasons below before getting into a fight; considering you are an average human being and not someone who bench presses a Corolla X for fun.
Reason 1: He pulls rickshaws, you pull toilet seats
Watching a Jackie Chan movie for fun is okay. Watching a Jackie Chan movie for life lessons isn't. If you think that you can tackle the rickshawala simply by twirling around him and whacking him with the seat, you're horribly wrong. Before you can even pull a punch, you'll get whacked by the hand that is hardened by gripping a steel handle all day. Your dentist bill is gonna cost you more than his fare.
Reason 2: If you lose, you lose everything
Just in case no one comes in between to stop you two from fighting and you manage to get knocked out, say goodbye to your valuables. The streets are tough and the economy is even tougher. Street urchins, glue sniffers and all sorts of addicts will crowd around you. An opportunist will take away your cellphone and wallet in the name of helping you. That ten taka looks cheap now, doesn't it?
Reason 3: Explaining the bruises
"The black eye? I got it by fighting a rickshawala. I saved ten bucks! I'm a genius!"
See how stupid that sounds? Even if you lie to someone saying you got it by fighting off eve-teasers when you were out with your girlfriend, you're still stupid. That little voice inside your head will forever hold you in shame. Unless you don't have an angelic voice in your head advising you constantly. If that is the case, you're the Anti-Christ and we are all doomed.
Reason 4: Your conscience
Let's assume for a second that you were right about the fare but does the man still deserve to get a whopping? You'll paddle his waddle and get your money but he probably feeds a family. I doubt hurting him will help those who depend upon him. For the money you saved, the only way his family might get some money is if they pose for the UNICEF pictures that portray poor people suffering from famine in Somalia. At the end of the day, being the better man might set off a long chain of karma which saves your butt from getting disintegrated one day. Unless you badly want to show off your Corolla X bench-presses or if you are the aforementioned Anti-Christ.
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