Thursday 25 March 2010

'Auto'mate

Egalatarianism is a social philosophy whose ultimate aim is to remove inequalities (economic or otherwise) among the people.


You need tools that facilitate egalatarianism. Socialism, communism, good natured samaritanism all propound the cause of egalatarianism.


I would like to add Internet to this list. When you see the link below, you will know why,


http://www.tuktastic.com/index.htm
Very ingenious way of marketing a commodity and differentiating isn't it?
There are thousands and thousands of autos in Chennai, a town whose auto drivers are notorious for squeezing the passengers. This auto driver, Samson, is really using the power of internet to target western tourists.
As an aside, on the topic of Chennai auto drivers, there is an anecdote. One of my favourite towns, Calicut (Kozhikkode in malayalam) is renowned for the honesty and integrity of the auto drivers. They do not refuse fare nor do they overcharge nor are the meters tampered with. They are also extremely courteous, polite and a lady can safely take any auto in the town even past midnight. Even today, when I drive down to Calicut, I park my car in a hotel, and use auto to commute locally.
Once, as the story goes, a Tamil Nadu minister who happened to visit Calicut was so impressed by the culture of the auto drivers, he asked his Kerala counterpart to send a delegation of Calicut auto drivers to Chennai to teach all the good habits they are known for to the Chennai auto drivers. After a week, the Tamil Nadu minister woke up to a call from the said Kerala Minister, who started abusing him profusely. Reason - after a day or two, the Chennai auto drivers started 'teaching' the Calicut delegation the 'tricks of the trade'

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