This is a true incident that took place in a
Mumbai suburb named Vasai.
Outside every railway
station in Mumbai, there are always a bunch of
autorickshaw (a small local taxi-like vehicle)
drivers waiting for the arriving passengers.
Once
at around 02:00 am, an autorickshaw driver was
woken up by a couple who wanted to go to a
place which was about 4 kms from the railway
station. The driver readily took them in his
autorickshaw and started off.
Now, to start an
autorickshaw, a handle is provided, which has to
be pulled while bending forwards. When the
autorickshaw covered a distance of about 2 kms,
the rickshaw had some minor problems which were
rectified in about five minutes. When the
driver bent forward to get to the handle to start
the vehicle, he saw that the lady's feet were
pointing backwards. Afraid and alone in the
middle of the night, he ordered that lady to get
out of his vehicle, but accepted to take only the
male passenger ahead to his destination.
The
rickshaw driver hurriedly took the rickshaw to
the desired place of the lone passenger. The
passenger (the one gentleman left) asked the
driver what the problem was all about?. The driver
without any hesitation, repeated what he had
seen. The gentleman broke his silence only to
offer the driver a look at his own feet, which
were pointing backwards like the lady's.
This is a true story as that autorickshaw driver
suffered a heart attack and died in hospital,
but not before referring it to others.
To show
the seriousness of this 'news', railway stations
in most of Mumbai's suburbs displayed this news
for public safety, and requested them to stay in
groups, and also requested not to leave their
houses after midnight.
This news also appeared in
local newspapers. But such similar happenings
haven't occured recently.
|