CHRONICLE

HYDER ABAD TUESDAY 4 AUGUST 2009

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1,000 smiles Auto drivers offer

to spread joy shady service
DC CORRESPONDENT and walks of life living togeth-
er,” says G. Naveen Kumar

T
his weekend, Hyderabadis Reddy, a market researcher. PRIYA RAMACHANDRAN
had a new reason to smile. Chandrasekhar Singh, devel- DECCAN CHRONICLE
Young photography opment assistant, NABARD, Men who want

enthusiasts of the 10-member who joined the group a few
strong Hyderabad Weekend months ago says, “Every smil-
Shoots group decided to capture ing photo evokes happiness in
the true spirit of the city by many more people. So we want-
photographing a thousand smil- ed to evoke as many smiles as
ing Hyderabadis. The pictures we could with a 1,000 smiles.”
will soon be uploaded on the Going up to strangers and
image sharing site, Flickr. wrangling a smile out of them
A mix of working was imperative, so a
professionals, teach- special team was cho-
ers, BPO employees, sen with the sole direc-
WE WANTED
software profession- tive to communicate
TO PORTRAY the idea and convince
als, marketing and
sales personnel, these A NEW potential subjects to
amateur shutterbugs SIDE OF “say cheese”.
who share a passion “The 10 of us are
for photography get OUR CITY divided in to three
behind the lens en TO THE groups — clickers,
masse every week- WORLD flickers and snickers.
end. And this time, Clickers are the pho-
the founders of the tographers, flickers are
group came up with the ‘1000- the assisting team and snickers
smiles-in-one-day drive’ to are those who convince people
reflect the Hyderabadi identity to smile after explaining our
— its multi-ethnicity and its motive to them. Of the three,
complex tapestry of diverse the snickers’ job is the tough-
communities living in harmony. est,” quips Suraj Naidu, national
“The first thing that strikes you account manager, Bharati Airtel
when you hear ‘Hyderabad’ is Ltd, who adds that with reces-
the Charminar, biryani, Hussain sion, public morale has taken a
Sagar lake, pearls etc. But we beating.
wanted to portray a new side of “Everyone needs to know that
our city — the wide strata of everything will be fine sooner
people from different religions or later,” he says.
W
hen unsuspecting
out-of-towners hit
the city in the
nocturnal hour,
the first taste of
Hyderabad almost plays out like a
scene from the film Ek Chalis Ki
Last Local. Young girls throng the
auto stands in and around the
Secunderabad station area and
proposition these travellers to
“share” a ride with them. Greedy
auto drivers egg them on, in the
hope of making anything between
Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for this
“special service” they offer, post-
midnight.
Swearing never to take the late
night trains to Secunderabad
again, Rajeev Saravan from
Chennai, who is a student HCU,
recounts his “horrible” experi-
ence. “I was travelling alone to
the city and I landed at the
Secunderabad station at around 1
am. Around 15 auto drivers
hounded me as soon as I stepped
out on the road looking for a ride.
Some auto drivers were accompa-
nied by young women in their
20s, dressed in garish clothes with
loud make-up and body language.
Fighting for my attention, these
women told me that they want to
go to the ‘same’ destination as I
do. This even before I mentioned
where I’m headed. It was quite a
scary experience. I walked away
from the place as fast as I could,
even as they persistently kept fol-
lowing me,” he says.
Dhanush J., a student of EFLU,
had no such luck. He boarded an
auto at 12.30 am when the auto
stopped a few metres ahead to
“pick up” another “passenger”
without his consent. “Even before
I could protest, a young girl
hopped into the auto and started
striking a conversation. She asked
me where I’m headed and told me
she could keep me ‘company’.
to hire a rick
from the
Secunderabad
Railway
station
to any
destination
post
midnight
are offered
young girls
as escorts
for a price.
Since the whole set-up was so quite forthright about their propo-
shady, I insisted that I get sition and offer to provide ‘enter-
dropped off but the tainment’ if we pay Rs
auto guy kept evading 500. For Rs 1,000, they
my queries and told offer to take you to a
me that I should A GIRL secluded spot and give
‘entertain’ the lady. It
was so creepy that I
HOPPED you alone-time with
the girl. It’s a surprise
forced the auto driver INTO THE that cops don’t take
to stop at the next
stand,” says Danush, AUTO AND any action. Our
attempts to report this
who explains that this
has become a thriving
OFFERED TO toin the police have been
vain, as the scenario
“midnight business” KEEP ME still remains the same
of sorts in the
Secunderabad station
COMPANY every night.”
Ask them about this
area. menace and an evi-
“My friends who usually take dently disinterested DCP feigns
the late-night trains after their ignorance. V.B. Kamalasan
night shifts have all faced the Reddy, DCP, task force, says,
same situations. Sometimes the “We are not aware of this. We
auto drivers, who work in collab- will look into this matter if any
oration with these women, are case is reported.”