Taxi Fare in Kerala
The main areas of Cochin, Kerala are on two peninsulas, Ernakulam, the modern side, then Fort Cochin, an old colonial area. We didn’t arrive in the city until 5pm via taxi and we didn’t make plans with a hotel. We decided to stay in the modern area of Ernakulam thinking it would be an easier place to navigate. My sister and I went in to check out the first hotel, but they didn’t have rooms available, so we went back out to the taxi where Mom and Dad were with our luggage. Up until then, the taxi driver, who was wearing the local dress of white linen sarong wrapped around and folded up by tucking it at the waist, this forms the loose skirt effect, had been very cordial. He didn’t speak too much English, but as I was sitting in the front of another hotel, we exchanged English grunts, moans and groans about the traffic and it all seemed to be good between us.
When we took the taxi from the airport, we pre-paid an amount, so not finding room at the first hotel, we told him we need to find another one. He didn’t like this one bit, he began to rant. We told him we’d pay him, my Mom pulled out money to show him that he didn’t need to worry, that we’ll pay him for his trouble. He asked, in a not so polite tone, ‘where you go?’ After about 5 ‘We don’t know, where’s a nice hotel?’ he got extremely agitated and started shouting again, ‘where you go?’ My Mom, at the end of her tether, snapped back ‘I don’t know, we just got here, we’re tired and hot, we just want a nice hotel’. My Dad stepped in, due to the way the taxi driver was talking to my Mom and said ‘Look! We will pay you!’
Normally, in India this gesture should’ve calmed any taxi driver down, and he could’ve taken full advantage of us, but instead, the taxi driver reached into his pocket and said he would call the police! Then my Mom shouted back ‘No, I’ll call the police!’ That’s when all hell broke loose. Mom, Dad and the taxi driver all pretending to be calling the police on their cell phones. So, to prove a point, I began to run around the car, flapping my arms yelling ‘Call the police, Call the police!’ at the top of my voice. This made a crowd gather. Finally, a man came up to us and asked what was going on. We explained about needing to find a nice hotel, and this man pointed directly behind him and said that here’s one of the best hotels Kerala has to offer. It was right next door to the one we just checked out.
So, after a quick inspection to find out if there were rooms available, which there were, we left our taxi friend and laughed at how bizarre we get while in India.
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