Experience with Mumbai Autoricks…

5th March, 2008
I am on my way to Delhi again…
Get a message at 11pm that my GoAir flight to Delhi at 20:20 hrs has been cancelled… I spend an hour or so trying to arrange an alternative… finally I am booked for a 17:25 flight on the same day…. So now I have to leave office even earlier than expected… ofcourse just as I am about to leave office, I am told that my flight has been delayed to 18:15 hrs…
realized in the morning that I’ve misplaced my ATM debit card… strain my brain & remember that I left it at CrossWord Book Store on Sunday… spent some uncomfortable hours in the morning trying to not worry about it much & get through to them… store is supposed to open at 11 am… I get through at 11:30… they do have my card, kept safely with them… So now I have to pick it up also on my way to the airport.
I leave office at 1400 hrs… make arrangements for Arti, finalise my packing, lock up & leave at 1500 hrs... 1st stop is a change of Rick at Mulund Check Post… one driver started running with my arriving rick, anticipating that I need to go to the Airport by giving one glance to my relatively large amount of luggage… the driver of the rick I was in saw my reluctance & annoyance & hence offered to drop me a little further up ahead… I am grateful as every step taken with luggage is an extra effort…
I take a 2nd Rick to go the Book Store… along with ours, another Rick is driving parallel… at the 1st signal, both the drivers glance at each other, exchange knowing smiles… as soon as the signal turns green, the other rick driver gives race and signals the start… from there on it’s a neck-to-neck… for those who are unaware of what I am talking about… it’s a race between 2 rick drivers… the race ends inconclusively when I reach my destination first…
It’s a shopping mall & I am entering it armed with 2 huge travel bags in my hands & a laptop bag all packed up as well… security wonders what in the world am I doing… the same can be seen in the eyes of those who happen to glance in my direction… I am trying to manage a decent pace so as to keep up with my time management… I reach the shop, pick up my card, Thank the people there profusely & leave… again the walk back with luggage till the road…
I come out & just cant carry the weight any longer… just drop my luggage in a rick & ask him to take me to the Airport… as soon as we are on the roll, the driver asks me ”Ma’am, how much time do you have ?”… I am a little surprised by this question… came from an unexpected quarter… I tell him I have just about sufficient time… he clarifies saying there’s a huge jam up ahead at IIT, Powai, stretching both ways… so he suggests that we take another route which will be less congested… when we reach the point of diversion for the new route, I ask him again that the new route will surely be better… he says till definitely will be & in case its not, he knows another route… I am impressed…
We reach the point of diversion and my goodness the traffic is scary & standing still … we take the diversion & I feel glad I took his rick… a little further ahead, at a signal he tells me that all the traffic is going in 1 direction… our direction… so it’ll be crowded as well now… so he asks me… “Should we follow the crowd & take the expected right turn or should we continue ahead ?”… I tell him I just want to reach Airport on time so he should take the route accordingly & he replies… “Ma’am the straight route is longer so the meter reading will be high, then you might say that I took you from the longer route, so I need to clarify with you…”… I ask him how much could it possibly be & he gives me an idea.. I had anticipated a higher sum, so I am relieved… we go straight ahead… it’s a route I’ve never been on before… but I am not worried about it…
Its 1640 hrs by now… I want to be at the Airport max by 1715 hrs for my flight as I have luggage to check in this time… I ask him how much more time & he says 15 mins or so… I reach airport at 1700 hrs… the meter reading is 5 bucks less than what had been quoted by him… I am again impressed & grateful… I Thank him and make my way in…
What just happened is a small thing… but it made my day… the Book Store keeping my card in safekeeping and the considerate nature of the both the drivers… this is what customer service should be all about… of course, apart from this, my already delayed flight was further delayed by another 20 minutes or so, but I guess by now I have come to expect it… even the initial delay was expected… guess I would’ve been surprised had that not happened ! but then I cant really blame them for bad customer service coz its infrastructure issue… though to their credit, I would give them the smooth rebooking as a result of their flight cancellation… agreed I was annoyed when the flight got cancelled, but the smooth manner of rebooking didn’t leave any scope for a bitter after taste… so, at their end, they did provide good customer service as well… guess things aren’t always that bad…