Angry outbursts of jilted lovers!

Cheeniya · Mar 22, 2009

Angry outburst of jilted lovers

Having been a frequent traveller to various cities of India, that is Bharat as Jawaharlal Nehru would always say, I have acquired an in depth knowledge about the plying of auto rickshaws in general and their colourful drivers in particular in different parts of the country. I rate auto rickshaws as the greatest invention after fire and wheel that has kept the humanity surging ahead. But for the auto rickshaws, (hereinafter to be referred to as autos in the much acclaimed legal parlance), the upwardly mobile middleclass would have found it difficult to become horizontally mobile. I have seen that whenever autos are off the road for any reason, the whole middleclass gets paralysed. Such is the dominant role they have come to play in the lives of this important section of the population. In fact, an innovative improvement in autos has made them reach out to downwardly mobile middleclass too. They come in the name of ‘share autos’ which just cost about 20% of the fare that autos would charge for the same trip though we may have to share the vehicle with twenty others bearing a striking resemblance to the bus carrying a couple of hundred people in all conceivable positions in the Fevicol advertisement!

In the opening line of this thread, I had said that in addition to an in depth knowledge about the plying of autos, I had acquired an insight into the lives of auto drivers too. You may not know this but the auto drivers constitute a major slice of jilted lovers in the country. I do not have any published figures to support this view of mine which is more in the nature of a deduction that Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes would have arrived at from visible evidence.

Most of the residents of Chennai would be aware that the autos carry interesting messages on the rear. Most of them are in the nature of angry outbursts against women like ‘You may trust a hissing snake but not a smiling woman’; ‘Marry the girl who loves you and not the one you love’ etc. These are very typical of men who entertain a great grouse against women. You will agree with me that such intense grouse cannot be caused by the fact that women tend to haggle more on the fares demanded or that women tend to search more for the place they need to reach than men. Auto drivers take such aberrations in the passenger behaviour in their stride. So the logical conclusion would be that these drivers may have faced some emotional upheaval to come out with such strong statements against women. What emotional upheaval can be caused in youth than being shown the door by the women they love? Mind you, this deduction is based purely on the average mindset of eligible lovers who have loved and lost. I do not have to tell you that the world’s greatest poems have been written by the jilted lovers than by the contented ones.

But I saw an unusual message on the rear of an auto recently which read, “For IP, you are VIP” First I thought that it implied that for an important person, you were a very important person. But it did not make much sense to me. I then got professionally very busy for the next few hours and I could not apply my mind to this statement though it was causing some minor ripples in my subconscious mind. When I reached home late in the evening, this statement virtually gripped my entire thought process. I even wished that I had stopped the auto that carried this message and asked the driver its import. I started browsing the Net for an explanation of IP and I got what I wanted!

IP stands for an Insolvent Person who is virtually deemed a near zero in this part of the world. What the auto driver intended to convey was a kind of mild rebuke to those self-styled VIPs who thought that they owned the road. ‘Who do you think you are? A VIP? You may be a VIP for an insolvent person but to me, you are nothing!’ was what he probably wished to convey to those who tried to bully him on the road! When I deciphered the meaning of that cryptic message, I was lost in admiration for the driver. I don’t think anyone can state his self confidence in a more telling way than this.

That also brings us to another point that all virtues and vices are purely comparative like the VIP we are talking about. I remember a story where the father proudly points out to a son of his who is sitting on the thatched roof with a lighted torch as the best among the lot! So whenever we feel down and out, we can get comforted by the feeling that we too may be VIPs for some class of people!

Srilathablr · Mar 22, 2009

Cheeniya ..

I appreciate the way you deciphered IP.. :thumbsup

I enjoyed reading your post.

Cheers!!!
Sri

Cheeniya · Mar 22, 2009

Srilathablr said: ↑

Cheeniya ..

I appreciate the way you deciphered IP.. :thumbsup

I enjoyed reading your post.

Cheers!!!
Sri
Click to expand...

Dear Srilatha
Thanks for stepping in to hear from me this vital piece of information! And thanks for the appreciation.
Sri

SoaringSpirit · Mar 22, 2009

Dearmost Cheeniya Sir,

What an insightful post this one is! From a mere auto to the profound message of dealing positively with our down times - a truly rewarding ride I must say!

I missed noticing that our autos too have these meaningful one liners written at the back of them. I am used to reading the back side of trucks (lorries as they were called). Along with the "Horn. OK. Please" at the back of these trucks, there also used to be some very profound thoughts about life - not so much about love life or failed love but of life in general.

I agree with you on the fact that each one of us is a VIP to somebody. Everyone is someone's hero. That's how people of all kinds not just survive on this earth but also thrive!

I think this VIP status theory also holds very true when one ponders if they really got a good match in marriage. And here the VIP status works both ways. For ex; the moment one looks at someone who has fared worse than them in their choice of life partner, one suddenly sees a VIP in their spouse (who just a moment ago was a devil of sorts!). By the same token one feels that afterall God has not been so unkind to them and that He did treat them as someone special to have blessed them with a "decent" enough spouse!

Cheeniya Sir, one thing that I was impressed by was the IQ of the auto drivers. They using high funda words like Insolvent Person has made me think that I really need to spruce up my English to be able to justify my white-collar worker status!

Enjoyed your post thoroughly Sir!

Lots of luv and warm regards,
SS

Cutepavi · Mar 22, 2009

Dear Cheeniya sir,

This is the first time i am reading your ramblings! The Title "Angry Outbursts of Jilted Lover's" caught my attention...

I totally agree with you about auto's becoming an integral part of our lives. A day on strike is like total immobility. Auto driver's seemed to adore their vehicle.

They name their auto's with their favourite name.. Some people even adress it as He/ She. Till now i was thinking that it is their liking for a particular proverb or may be even for fun that made them write it on the top of auto.

I really appreciate your effort to find the meaning and understand the emotion of the person who we easily call as auto driver's "For IP You are a VIP" ... Also as you said the emotions connected to the word VIP may differ from each person..

Cheeniya said: ↑

Such is the dominant role they have come to play in the lives of this important section of the population. In fact, an innovative improvement in autos has made them reach out to downwardly mobile middleclass too. They come in the name of ‘share autos’ which just cost about 20% of the fare that autos would charge for the same trip though we may have to share the vehicle with twenty others bearing a striking resemblance to the bus carrying a couple of hundred people in all conceivable positions in the Fevicol advertisement!

IP stands for an Insolvent Person who is virtually deemed a near zero in this part of the world. What the auto driver intended to convey was a kind of mild rebuke to those self-styled VIPs who thought that they owned the road. ‘Who do you think you are? A VIP? You may be a VIP for an insolvent person but to me, you are nothing!’ was what he probably wished to convey to those who tried to bully him on the road! When I deciphered the meaning of that cryptic message, I was lost in admiration for the driver. I don’t think anyone can state his self confidence in a more telling way than this.

That also brings us to another point that all virtues and vices are purely comparative like the VIP we are talking about. I remember a story where the father proudly points out to a son of his who is sitting on the thatched roof with a lighted torch as the best among the lot! So whenever we feel down and out, we can get comforted by the feeling that we too may be VIPs for some class of people!
Click to expand...

iyerviji · Mar 22, 2009

Dear Cheeniya Sir

Again a good write up. But unfortunately this time I missed to give the first feedback. I agree with you that it is very difficult for the commuters when the autos are on strike.

I also appreciate the effort taken by you to find out the meaning of IP.
I feel I am a VIP because my name is Vijayalakshmi P Iyer, if i keep it as Vijayalakshm Iyer P then I become a VIP.

Enjoyed reading your write up.

Regards
viji

jaijui0 · Mar 23, 2009

cheeniya,
yes indeed i love a taxi walla or a ricksaw walla ..i chat endlesslly with them ..never have found a bad one thus far
lol at"For IP you are VIP " took me a while to digest that
jaijui

Mindian · Mar 23, 2009

dear cheeniya sir,

a good one..talking about the confidence of auto drivers and especially in chennai i would say they have too much of it bordering on arrogance...they scare me with their sarcasm..

loved the slogans u have quoted in the back of autos. and about them being jilted lovers...Big Laugh..

Padmini · Mar 23, 2009

dear cheeniya sir,
when i read the title i thought it is about some lovers who failed in their love but alas! what alovely description about the autos. you not only analyzed the importance of auto in commuting but also the wordings. true they might have written it out their own experience.it is so nice of you to do research like Thomas alwa edison. . to know the meaning of IP. you have given the true credit to the auto driver. but hear i want to share one thing which i read it in paper.seeing the wordings,in an auto" free for delivery"two women ( one is pregnant and going to deliver the baby)climbed on the auto and asked the driver to go away and
give the auto as a room for delivery since it is free for delivery!!!!enjoyed reading.
with love
pad.

Jpatma · Mar 23, 2009

Sir,
Rajnikanth will salute you for writing abt auto wallah in IL. Ofcourse autos are boon to middle class people.
My experience with autos are always "meterke melle pottu kudunga". As much as iam tempted to place the fare on the top of the meter i dare not say anything being afraid of their profanity.
Its been some time since I came to Chennai so bit out of touch with slogans. i felt they never had any dejected feelings of jilted lover, rather boisterous mirth of a man who is living life to the full.
For IP you are VIP - thats a beautiful - how abt -For Intoxicated Person you are Very Idiotic Person .
May be the autowallah did n't have any respect for his passengers. It is just my naughty thought Please do not take it seriously iam saying in Jest. I wouldn't want to see your reply in Bold & capital.
Jaya