Changing drivers

At 1:15 I was only five miles away from our house in Pondicherry. The driver said he could not go any farther because he didn’t have a Pondicherry license.

So the two friends of the driver took another car and went to a nearby hospital and brought back a car and driver with a Pondicherry license. Usually drivers charge five rupees to go to our house from there; 10 rupees maximum. But this driver said, “At this hour you have to pay 75 rupees.”

He was shamelessly overcharging, but 75 rupees is only a little more than five dollars. I was so happy that I would finally arrive at my destination that I gladly agreed to pay him.

— 1 March 1986