TravelCent

Luggage Issues in Chennai

As I stepped off the plane and on to the jetway, I was hit by a furnace of humid, hot air. It welcomed me to Chennai. But, I found the airport impressive, it was clean, shiny and it almost made us forget we were in India. But, harsh reality slapped us in the face when we exited the airport and were besieged by all the aggressive taxi drivers eager to grab our luggage and drive us to our hotel Chennai India and overcharge us I’m sure. I stayed with my mound of luggage while maneuvered around to find a prepaid taxi stand, which I found didn’t exist. I was surprised about this, but recovered quickly and put myself at the mercy of the taxi wallahs. I went with a taxi wallah that seemed to have the most honest face in a sea of honest faces. I settled on a grandfatherly looking man, who after learning my destination guided me to a really con-artist looking type of Bollywood villain with a bushy mustache. He had his helper boys wrestle the luggage cart from me and wheeled it over to his taxi. I did my best and insisted he meter me, which he easily agreed to. That made me weary for some reason.

He was too happy, to eager. Something felt wrong, but all my luggage was in his taxi, and the boys circled me until I tipped them for pushing my luggage cart only a few feet. The grandfatherly looking driver then explained that he needed to take me to his other air-conditioned taxi. I told him I don’t need air-conditioning, but he responded that the meter his taxi didn’t work, something about the fuse being broken, so that was the other reason he switched me to the other taxi. Ah, I was being duped. The grandfatherly drive could tell I didn’t believe not one word, but he was insistent, saying he was the CEO of his taxi company and he wanted to give me his card because he didn’t just want to drive me to the hotel but be my own personal driver the whole time I’m in Chennai.

I told him that that sounded actually pretty good, but it all depended on how much he charged me to go to my hotel. He smiled and as he pushed me into the other taxi said I will not be disappointed. I must say, after a week of using only his taxi service, I was really pleased and I got to know the driver really well, he wasn’t the villain like I thought, but a family man just trying to make a living.

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