By Christopher Ceepiyan, Anuradhapura
A smartly dressed man got into a metered three wheeler taxi one afternoon. He had asked the three wheeler driver to proceed. The taxi driver did so after starting the meter on his taxi.
After getting to the office the passenger had asked the three-wheeler driver to wait outside until he came back. The metre at that point read Rs. seventy. The taxi driver waited and waited but the man did not return. Half an hour passed. Still the man did not return. Rs. sixty was added to the meter as waiting charges.
The driver told a person nearby that his hire had said that he would come quickly, but now half an hour had passed. The meter was turning. However, he said that if he had been on the road he would have earned more than Rs. 300. After some time the youth came back. He patted the driver on the shoulder and went back in saying that he needed a little more time. I don’t like to go on hires like this, the driver said angrily. One hour passed, the hire of Rs. seventy had gone up to Rs. hundred. “Let’s go”, the young man told the driver after getting back into the three-wheeler. There was a wonderful saying painted on the back of the three-wheeler which went like this. “I don’t go, even though I go, I can’t remain there, however, I will come in a jiffy”.