Conned By a $%(&!#)(&%)@#$ Cabby!
I know it's a Saturday today, but I have to return to work. The customer apparently wanted Elton (who is more senior than I am) to conduct some sort of a demonstration to his big bosses, so I had to come in as well. It won't look too cool if Elton were at work and I were by some beach sipping pina colada, would it?
After that, I went to run on the treadmill, determined to get rid of the fats I had acquired this trip. Final result: I lost about 100 grams of water. Looks like I have a looooooooong way to go.
After the workout, it was already about 6pm. Elton and I took a cab to a place called College Street. When we boarded the cab, I had noticed the cabby adjusting the meter (he was using those mechanical meters), but I thought he was just resetting the fare, so I didn't think much of it. Halfway through the journey, I glanced at the meter again. To my horror, it had seemed very high although we had only covered a short distance. I had the sinking feeling that we were about to be conned, big time.
"Ta ma de, this idiot is going to con us," I said to Elton in Mandarin.
"Maybe what the meter is showing us is the correct fare," Elton said.
"Maybe. We'll know soon," I replied.
When we reached our destination, the mechanical meter was showing 50 rupees.
"For this distance, it should only be 70 or 80 rupees," I said to Elton.
"How much?" Elton asked.
"Hundred fifty," said the cabby.
He took out a meter chart, the very first time I saw a cabby doing so in Calcutta, as if that would prove his point. He pointed at a figure which said 50 rupees on the left column, and 150 rupees on the right column.
"Hundred fifty," he repeated with his minimal command of English.
"Are you sure?" asked Elton.
"Not possible. We come before. Always less than hundred. No hundred fifty.", I said, trying to be as English friendly to him as possible.
"Hundred fifty," he pointed at the meter chart again.
"Yeah, we have been here before, don't try to lie to us." said Elton.
"We come before. We know how much. You no cheat us.", I said.
After several minutes of pointless arguing we got out of the cab, our pockets a hundred and fifty rupees lesser. I was quite pissed with the cabby, and I had a good mind to just walk out of the cab without even paying him a single rupee.
We will have to be more careful in future. Stupid cabby!
College Street, I was told was filled with second hand books. When I went there however, all I saw were university textbooks sold by some dodgy looking street-side stall. Being an avid bookworm, I was dissapointed. The only books that seemed to be of any interest to me at all were finance or economics textbooks.
Later, we decided to had dinner in a Bengali restaurant called Kewpies, recommended by the Lonely Planet. It was at Elgin Road, but we didn't know how to get there. This was when I realized that many people in Calcutta could not speak English. I asked several cabbies to bring us to this place, but none of the cabbies seemed to even speak English at all. Elton was less adventurous, and wanted to go back to the hotel for dinner, but I persuaded him to try to find the restaurant. We searched hard for a shopkeeper who could speak English before we finally found one. He told us that we had to take the Metro (Calcutta's version of the subway) to a place called Rabindra Sadan, and then ask the people there.
To cut a long story short, we took the metro, and then we searched and asked, and searched and asked again, until we finally found the Bengali restaurant. We had some puri, the famous Bengali fried fish, chicken, mutton and spinach. The food was ok, although I thought it was too ordinary to have been recommended by Lonely Planet. Then again, maybe it is the best "Bengali" restaurant, and Bengali food is generally bland anyway.
We ended the day by going to a designer coffee house, a little like an Indian version of Coffee Bean. The owner was a very friendly person, and we chatted with him for quite a while, learning more about Calcutta. I learnt from the owner that this was the only coffee house in Calcutta .... I tipped him with 10 rupees (20% of our bill) for his friendliness and we left.
After that, I went to run on the treadmill, determined to get rid of the fats I had acquired this trip. Final result: I lost about 100 grams of water. Looks like I have a looooooooong way to go.
After the workout, it was already about 6pm. Elton and I took a cab to a place called College Street. When we boarded the cab, I had noticed the cabby adjusting the meter (he was using those mechanical meters), but I thought he was just resetting the fare, so I didn't think much of it. Halfway through the journey, I glanced at the meter again. To my horror, it had seemed very high although we had only covered a short distance. I had the sinking feeling that we were about to be conned, big time.
"Ta ma de, this idiot is going to con us," I said to Elton in Mandarin.
"Maybe what the meter is showing us is the correct fare," Elton said.
"Maybe. We'll know soon," I replied.
When we reached our destination, the mechanical meter was showing 50 rupees.
"For this distance, it should only be 70 or 80 rupees," I said to Elton.
"How much?" Elton asked.
"Hundred fifty," said the cabby.
He took out a meter chart, the very first time I saw a cabby doing so in Calcutta, as if that would prove his point. He pointed at a figure which said 50 rupees on the left column, and 150 rupees on the right column.
"Hundred fifty," he repeated with his minimal command of English.
"Are you sure?" asked Elton.
"Not possible. We come before. Always less than hundred. No hundred fifty.", I said, trying to be as English friendly to him as possible.
"Hundred fifty," he pointed at the meter chart again.
"Yeah, we have been here before, don't try to lie to us." said Elton.
"We come before. We know how much. You no cheat us.", I said.
After several minutes of pointless arguing we got out of the cab, our pockets a hundred and fifty rupees lesser. I was quite pissed with the cabby, and I had a good mind to just walk out of the cab without even paying him a single rupee.
We will have to be more careful in future. Stupid cabby!
College Street, I was told was filled with second hand books. When I went there however, all I saw were university textbooks sold by some dodgy looking street-side stall. Being an avid bookworm, I was dissapointed. The only books that seemed to be of any interest to me at all were finance or economics textbooks.
Later, we decided to had dinner in a Bengali restaurant called Kewpies, recommended by the Lonely Planet. It was at Elgin Road, but we didn't know how to get there. This was when I realized that many people in Calcutta could not speak English. I asked several cabbies to bring us to this place, but none of the cabbies seemed to even speak English at all. Elton was less adventurous, and wanted to go back to the hotel for dinner, but I persuaded him to try to find the restaurant. We searched hard for a shopkeeper who could speak English before we finally found one. He told us that we had to take the Metro (Calcutta's version of the subway) to a place called Rabindra Sadan, and then ask the people there.
To cut a long story short, we took the metro, and then we searched and asked, and searched and asked again, until we finally found the Bengali restaurant. We had some puri, the famous Bengali fried fish, chicken, mutton and spinach. The food was ok, although I thought it was too ordinary to have been recommended by Lonely Planet. Then again, maybe it is the best "Bengali" restaurant, and Bengali food is generally bland anyway.
We ended the day by going to a designer coffee house, a little like an Indian version of Coffee Bean. The owner was a very friendly person, and we chatted with him for quite a while, learning more about Calcutta. I learnt from the owner that this was the only coffee house in Calcutta .... I tipped him with 10 rupees (20% of our bill) for his friendliness and we left.
