There are two types of people in this world: The ones who get the opportunities they want and the ones who don’t.
And among the ones who don’t, there are some who accept the way things are, and then there are some who decide to make the best of the situation.
This autowallah from Chennai falls in the second category.
Never having the means to become a businessman, his childhood dream, he turned auto-driving into a business, and the results are for everyone to see. In an interview given to Humans of Bombay, he said:
In school, I’d scored well; I’d keep thinking about my USP as an auto driver. Just like a marketing manager, I thought, ‘What are my customers expectations of me?’ When I asked my customers, ‘safety & respect’ were the top answers. I was a responsible driver, but what else could I do?
For years, he read the behaviour of his customers and kept updating the facilities in his auto accordingly. He’d see someone reading the newspaper, next thing you know, he has a stack of newspapers in his auto.
He’d see someone’s phone battery die out, he installs a charging point. Right now, his auto has all these facilities, plus an iPad with Netflix subscription, Alexa, fan, WIFI etc.
I also bought an iPad & installed Netflix. Once a customer told me, ‘Bhaiya, take another lap, I want to finish the episode.’ I also have a mini fridge, a charging point, a fan & an Alexa too. Alexa often likes to tell me, ‘The traffic in Chennai is very high.’ Like I don’t know that!
Besides all this, he also has a heart of gold. He never charges money from teachers and in a very smart business strategy, gives people 1000 after they have completed 40 rides with him.
When I tried giving that prize to a customer, he declined & said, “I’ve gained a friend. That’s more than money can buy”. That’s the nicest compliment I’ve ever gotten.
It’s inspiring to see what he made out of the conditions he was put in. He put his everything into his auto and today, he can proudly say, “I have the best job in the world!”. Not many people can claim that.
You can read his complete story, here: