Five Stories From Calicut About Our Good Ol' Auto-chettans

12 Aug 2016
Sarath Francis
Features

Calicut city does not have any major on-demand transportation technology aggregator as of yet and there is a very good reason why. The city's pseudonym, 'City of Truth', is the reason. Any new entrant will have to go up against the city's beloved 'auto-chettans', and the chances the newbies have of coming out on top are low. These good ol' auto-chettans have been helping the common man since the dawn of time. There are countless instances of auto-chettans going out of their way to help customers, we have listed five below,

1. The Curious Case Of The Auto-chettan Honoured In Dubai

Mohammed Rafeeq PP, a good ol' auto-chettan, was flown out to Dubai for a public programme organised by the Kozhikkodu District Pravasi Association (KDPA-UAE). A couple of women hailed Mr. Rafeeq's autorickshaw from the city to the railway station and forgot their bag in his auto. The bag had jewellery worth half a million! Mr. Rafeeq only noticed the bag in the backseat after a while but when he did, he drove straight back to the railway station. Mr. Rafeeq was flown out to UAE to reward his honesty and integrity. As per emirates247, when asked about the incident, all Mr. Rafeeq had to say was, 'Most of the autorickshaw drivers in my city are honest.'

image source: Emirates247

2. The Auto-chettan Who Paid His Customer

Mr. Sreekumar was surprised when an auto-chettan returned a bit of the fare money after a trip. Sreekumar was new to the city and took an autorickshaw to his friend’s house. Once at the destination, Sreekumar paid the auto-chettan the amount on the meter and turned around to leave, but to his surprise, the auto-chettan called him back, returned an amount and told Sreekumar he felt the meter was not right!

image source: Daily Mail

3. The First Trip Of The Day

Aravind K.N. usually takes the bus to tuition at 6AM, but once he missed the bus and needed an autorickshaw. He knew he did not have money to pay the meter-fare and asked an auto-chettan half-heartedly about the ride. "You are the first today, I’m not saying no to you. Let’s go!" is what the auto-chettan said in reply.

image source: Bp Blogspot

4. The Mobile

Shaji took an autorickshaw to the SBI branch in Calicut, after he got down he realised he forgot his mobile in the vehicle. Shaji tried calling the phone after a while and was surprised to find a person from the city traffic police station on the other end. The constable on duty asked Shaji a couple of questions to confirm he was the true owner and then told Shaji that a kind auto-chettan, Mr. Mahendran, had handed the phone to the station.

image source: Concordia

5. Surge Prices? No Thank You

Krishna Prem is used to having to cough up a little more for travel during the night. After travelling home from the railway station in an autorickshaw, he paid the auto-chettan an amount 1.5 times the one indicated on the meter. The auto-chettan was not a fan of surges and returned the surge amount.