Upon claiming my bag I started looking for the pre-paid taxi stands and saw one sign indicating left. I was surprised to see one company, the city operated one, only. I line up and also notice that not one of the foreigners are around; it is only me and the Indians. Strange. Maybe all the foreigners had a pick up already? At any rate, I go tell the dispatcher where I am going, pay Rs 300 only (last week I paid a whopping Rs 750) and get the paperwork.
As I turn to exit there I find all the foreigners at the Easycabs counter. Damm! But then it was too late. It will be fine, I thought.
Findind car and driver was not a problem but communicating was big time. He was a young guy who did not understand or spoke a single word of English. When I gave him address and map of my host's place he barely glanced at them. At the moment I did not know but he probably can hardly read, even Hindi. He perked up when I said Oklha (the neighborhood). So off he went. I remembered how to get to the house so could give directions (ok, signals).
My (false) suspicions started to brew when all of a sudden just as we past security another just jumps into the car unannouced. My mind is shit am I in trouble? Are they really drivers? I decided to confront them and ask were there 2 of them? Of course this did not go too well as my Hindi is nonexistant. They just shrugged and repeated the word Okhla.
My mind is racing. What should I do? I had not taken the police number that was at the taxi stand. I had Yasmin's nephew number down so thought of calling him and talking to the drivers. But did not do it right away since we were still headed to the right direction. And thought, if they were going to do something with me they would have done right away.
Then they make a turn I did not recognize and start to freak out. Again I said to go to Okhla but this time he said something else. So decided to call the nephew but damm it is out of reach as his mobile was out of Delhi region. Fuck, what do I do? The only other local number I had was Yasmin's mom but I was loathe to do it. So tried Yasmin in New York instead. I felt a sigh of relief when she picked up the phone. Summoning the calmest voice I could muster I told her the situation and asked her to talk to the driver and find out what was going on. They talk for awhile. He gives me the phone back and Yasmin cheerfully tells me that he knows where he is going and to call her back once we were at the major road in Okhla. Ok, my initial thought was good for you, you are not stuck in the backseat of a non-air con car with Dumb and Dumber. You are out buying shoes for crying out loud!
Just as I hang up they approach a gas station and we get to pressurize the tyres. Aha! So this is what he was telling before. The journey continues, we get to the main road and I start to recognize the landmarks once again.
But we are not home safe yet. He does not know the address that I am going to. He hardly saw the piece of paper that I showed him. We reach Jamia University which is barely 200-300m from destination and they want to drop me off. If it were not in the middle of a busy intersection, at night and I was not carrying luggage, I would have love to walk. I wanted him to keep going and the only way to urge him to go on is to have Yasmin talk to him again. He finally obliges and at the end of the road I have to stick my arm in front of him to turn right and then another right. And I am at my destination.
I was sweating and happy I got safely. The moral of the story: at Delhi domestic terminal go for the Easycabs counter that is located to the right once you have retrieved your luggage, you will pay double but will surely get a driver that speaks English.
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