Gave somebody a ride yesterday, and realised that the hitchhiking/lift culture does not exist in Mumbai, unlike in Delhi. At least it did when I was in college. And most of us – particularly the hostel residents – spent our student years in Delhi relying on lifts to get around.
The rules were simple. Cars wouldn’t stop for men. So, if there was a woman in the group, she would be standing there, thumb out, and presto – the cars would stop. Then we’d crawl out of the bushes. 80% of the times, the guy would sheepishly consent to give us all a ride. If you were alone, you could try the two-wheelers. They generally stopped.
You did end up meeting some weird people. Like the time my girlfriend and I were trying to hitch across to Priya Cinema and had managed to get as far as Mathura Road. After a while, a car stopped ahead of us, and we saw a bangle-laden, mehndi-ed hand beckon us from the front passenger’s side. We went up, and the guy who was driving asked “Aap lift maang rahe the?” (Were you asking for a lift?). When we said yes, he asked us to get in. This was a strange looking pair. The woman was really heavily made-up, bejewelled and looked dressed for a wedding in the middle of the afternoon. Everything about the guy screamed Delhi. The guy said again: “to India main bhi log lift mangte hain? (So people take lifts in India too?), followed by a pause that begged the question. I obliged. “Aap India say nahin hain?” (Aren’t you from India?), to which I got the reply, also in Hindi, “nahin, main to german say hoon” (I am from german). Thankfully he didn’t burst into his Hindi version of Deutschland, Deutschland über alles….
Then there was this time – again en route to Priya, but this time at Dhaula Kuan – that a car with two young exec types stopped. There were three of us – with the mandatory woman – and we got into the back seat. There were office bags lying there, and the driver told us, in a fake American accent, a là Salman Khan, “yeah, don’t worry, shove that stuff in the back guys”. We shoved. Then, with accent as strong as ever: “so you guys heading to Priya huh? To catch a movie?” We, silently, in our heads : “Du-uh, moron.” He: “so which movie are you guys going to watch?” My friend gave the name of the film. To which the guy said: “oh, axxelant movie yaar”. Moral of the story: You can take the guy out of the Dally, but you cannot take the Dally out of the guy!
One final memorable encounter, but that’s for Part II.
June 23, 2008 at 11:26 am
LOL @ ” You can take the guy out of the Dally, but you cannot take the Dally out of the guy!”
So many people slip when they put on those accents, makes for some interesting conversations, just to catch them at it 😀
And hitch-hiking in India? I thought that didn’t work here, ah well, I learn something new here every time you blog 🙂
June 23, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Chennairamblings – glad you enjoyed it! There are some interesting anecdotes I have about accents – but that’s for another time.
Yes, Delhi – at least some years ago – had a very vibrant hitch-hiking culture, if one can call it that. A lot of students, particularly from the North Campus, made use of it.
June 23, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Hitch-hiking. Something I’ve never done, but often thought I should try, even if it was the last thing I did!
June 23, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Liam – it’s fun, and absolutely necessary when you’re broke and have to get someplace.
You’ve got to be careful about whose car you get into though – or it just may be the last thing you do!
June 24, 2008 at 9:02 pm
QuirkyIndian: This reminds me of something I have heard attributed to DU women:
1. Have you seen Amitabh Bachchan? He is, tho baba, so lengthy!
2. Hai re, meri to dath hee ho gayi…
One guy in my MBA class used to do an impression of these women, and we used to double over laughing. Mustn’t laugh at others’ accents. 😉
June 24, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Shefaly – number 2 is one I have heard very many times…..and while I haven’t heard no 1, it has all the properties of something some DU women would say. Except ‘lenghty’ would be ‘langthy’.
Cheers!
June 25, 2008 at 12:37 am
QI: So it is not urban legend, then? Great! 🙂
Or as I have heard someone in Delhi say: “Ai to goodd hai!”
June 25, 2008 at 11:34 am
Shefaly – definitely not a legend.
Cheers.
June 25, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I should have started reading with this post I guess. 🙂
I agree with your observations about Salman Khan’s strange accent and Delhites. This was really a good read. Only I have never hitch-hiked in Delhi, I was not aware if it existed.
June 25, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Poonam- yes, you should have started with this.
I am sure hitchhiking still exists in Delhi. But a lone woman should never ever hitchhike in India. Just repeating the obvious, but you can’t be too careful.
June 26, 2008 at 7:21 pm
He is from German? Hilarious. Is that some suburb of Jalandhar, then? 😉
June 26, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Lekhni – am sure it’s some happening suburb of Jalandhar!
Cheers.
August 10, 2008 at 9:27 pm
ah – Good old North Campus. Don’t remember hitchhiking happening anywhere else, funnily. I was terrified of it – miss goody two shoes so only hitched if there were guys along. But I do know plenty of women who hiked alone – brave or foolish?
and one who almost got raped at the Ridge (if you’re familiar with Delhi)
Have enjoyed reading – got here via Shefaly’s blog roll
August 11, 2008 at 11:34 am
@the mad momma – welcome to my blog, and thanks for your comment.
Good old North Campus indeed. :-). We tried to hitchhike all over Delhi, though it was admittedly easier around the univ….as for the girls who hitched alone – foolish, extremely foolish.
The Ridge was (is??) extremely unsafe, and was unfortunately also the best way to get to Dhaula Kuan and so to Chanakya and/or Priya from the univ….but we were always advised not to make it too late on the Ridge if there were girls along….
April 19, 2010 at 2:16 pm
This was zimbly axxellant!!!! Still laughing :-))) Got to read Part II now.
April 23, 2010 at 3:30 am
ROFL!!!
Dilliwalli spirit captured to a T! 😀
Dally has menny klonies endd our klonies have sacchh krackters 😛
BTW didnt know you spent your colege time in Delhi.
We guys used to scramble through the ridge area(group of atleast 20 ) to get to Priya’s quickly.
Our school was the one behind(or is that infront)? :O the ridge 😀