A rocking ride

Autorickshaws in Shela village play everything from Nirvana to Pink Floyd on demand....

From Pink Floyd to Green Day,get all that and more rock for the asking. Not from a juke box,though. For many rock music fans,an auto rickshaw may be the last place to get their fix. But that is what a bunch of auto drivers,most of them from Shela village located on Ahmedabads outskirts,are now offering.

Most of the autorickshaw drivers here are school dropouts. That includes Pappubhai,a 40-something auto driver who hit upon the idea first. So what if English eludes him,but he can tell his Pink Floyd from Green Day by now.

This rocking ride isnt entirely coincidental. The Mudra Institute of Communication Studies has its academic-cum-residential campus in Shela village and students come from all over India,even abroad. And since there is no reliable bus service connecting Shela village to Ahmedabad city,students and the faculty hop into autos to cover the 20-km journey.

Pappubhai says his auto became popular with the students because it had a good music system,something he got installed for

Rs 3,500. He uses a pen drive thats loaded with all kinds of music,especially angrezi music.

That was a hit with the students and they began bringing along their personal pen drives to be plugged into Pappubhais music system. Over many such 90-minute drives to the city,Pappubhai learnt to tell one crooner from the other,the music drowning the sputter of his auto.

I have learnt some English too: now I can say,Where were you mam. This,he says,he learnt from Where were you,a Pink Floyd song on his play list. As he talks,he takes out his remote and changes the track to Nirvana.

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Pappubhai says his daily earnings have gone up ever since he installed his music system. Students even pay him for the return journey. It did not take long for other auto drivers to pick up the idea.

Gurdeep Singh,a MICA student,says,I like alternative rock such as Cold Play and Green Day. I have downloaded their songs on to the pen drive of an autorickshaw driver. I call him on his cellphone whenever I have to go.

Devendra,another auto driver,says,It is nice to have the clients happily surprised. All of them have their wish list.

But its Pappubhai whos the expert. Hindi gaano mein tabla bahut hota hai. Angrezi gaano ke guitar music mein bahut maza aata hai There is lot of tabla music in Hindi songs; I enjoy the guitar sounds in English songs.