Saturday, August 8, 2009

Hitchhikers Guide To Hitchhiking

Recession has affected a lot of things in my life , but there is one positive aspect of it which I need to appreciate. It has made people more sympathetic to poor lift takers like me. I used to take lifts during my intern time at Hyd and now to go to my office. And man, is there a differance!!

Anyways, Hitchhking a.k.a lift taking.The most obvious reason why you would Hitchhike is due to lack of decent affordable transport, or like in my case , you are just a born prudent cheapo who hates giving the auto guys 30 bucks for the minimum distance. Here are some more reasons why you should give lift a try.
  • Savings: on petrol, pollution and the whole Go Green thing.
  • Contacts: You can start a conversation with them . And you never know. He could be a big shot in that next door posh company in ur Sez into which you've always tried getting into but felt they would not even allow you from their backdoor cafetaria entrance. And he gave you a lift implies he is in a benevolent mood. Take its the refferal I say.
  • Timepass:Quite a few lift givers are expansive talkers, boring at that. But still, the poor guy is giving you a lift dude. Acknowledging them by atleast nodding your head is minimum courtsey.
  • More timepass:You can meet a good open minded person of the opposite sex, making for atleast an addition in that fast shrinking single girls/boys list of yours. How you take it from here and form further scope entirely depends on you.( Ok, even this almost never happens)
Here are a few things i found helped me get faster and easier lifts.
  • Dress properly. A sincere attires helps.
  • Show of your office tag. This is the only time outside office that I show my office tag, so that the person knows I am new age Indias corporate slave dog .I mean, a harmless liftable person.
  • Try taking lift at junctions or road bends or speed breakers or wherever vehicles go slower than pedestrians. People almost never stop for you if they are already going at high speeds.
  • Taking lift near temples. About 50% of the people somehow slow down when they pass a temple, giving a silent prayer hoping the client will be more reasonable this time around atleast. Although that never happens, it presents an oppurtunity for us lift pouncers to lift that much tired left hand with thumbsup for the lift call. They will most certainly give a lift, assuming they are doing a good samiritan deed. Nice dumbos they r.
  • Avoid cars. they almost never give lift. And even if they do , it will b some call centers cab returning from work and hoping to make a quick buck out of you. Bikers are soo much better.
Ah, felt nice blogging after long:)