On Kannada Rajyotsava every year, this rickshaw driver offers sweets and discounts to all his passengers
On Kannada Rajyotsava every year, this rickshaw driver offers sweets and discounts to all his passengersu00a0
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It is November 1. You see an auto-rickshaw all decked up and with a Karnataka flag on top of it. You hail it and step in. The driver is a man called Raja. If all these things do come together, you are in for a pleasant surprise.
Yesterday, he did it for the fourth year in a row.
Day of giving back
"In a year I carry thousands of passengers and many don't take back the small change. They just leave it; it may be a rupee, two rupees or fifty paise. For a year all this small change put together makes a few hundred rupees," said Raja. "Why can't I benefit passengers for a day by giving them a concession and sweets on Rajyotsava?"
Raja subtracts the minimum fare of Rs 14 from anything the meter shows on Rajyotsava. Yesterday, he also purchased 4 kg of sweets for his passengers, spending a few hundred rupees on it.
Efforts appreciated
"A passenger whom I offered sweets in return gave me Rs 200 extra and told me to buy some more sweets to distribute," said Raja. "I was so happy yesterday; all my passengers blessed me for doing such a good job.
Many of them rounded off the meter charge, and a few offered me coffee and cigarettes."
Raja began publicising his special offer for the day a two weeks in advance. He displayed a message all around his auto-rickshaw: 'Free travel up to Rs 14 and distribution of sweets on Rajyotsava.'
"When I was at Mahalakshmipura yesterday members of a Kannada sangha by the name 'Vishwa Shanthipriya Kannada Yuvakara Sangha' presented me with a memento after looking at my auto-richskaw and the words written on it," said Raja. "It was a surprise for me; I felt extremely happy. In all, there are 4,267 letters on my auto rickshaw."
Raja also said the people at Corporation Bank, Hanumanthanagar branch, had offered to felicitate him, but he declined.
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