Chennai Airport- Taxi service_ Aviation Express!

I and my wife returned from a short trip abroad landed at the Chennai International Airport early in the morning @2.30 hrs.  After a wait of nearly an hour our baggage arrived and we went to the Aviation Express counter situated right outside the arrival hall and paid a flat sum of RS 700/- to go to our house in Besant Nagar, a distance of say about 15 kms.

The Aviation Express staff took us to ta waiting Taxi bearing no 4307(Tavera) and woke up the driver who was fast asleep inside the car!  The driver looked at us with kind of disgust for waking him up at such early hours and opened the boot without even moving an inch! We began our tiring journey back home.  We realised that the Taxi driver had not switched on the A/c due to which we felt suffocated and requested the driver to switch on the A/c.  With reluctance he turned the A/c knob into position no 1 which meant low e flow of cold air which was insufficient for us as the weather was very humid.  When we requested the driver to increase the A/c power, he snubbed at us saying the A/c is already on!!  We told him that it was insufficient for us and again requested him to increase the power and the knob position.  He obliged doing that but in turn, pulled his windows down and started to put his neck out and made some unusual breathing sounds which was little scary and suspicious.  I asked him as to what was he up to?  He replied that he was in deep sleep and that we woke him up!  He was trying to take deep breathe and ward off sleep by sticking his neck out of the window and get fresh air!  We were  quite astonished with his behaviour and kept our cool.
We reached home around 4.10 am and the driver was unfriendly even to take out our luggage and put them down.

After we removed all our luggage, the driver stood there staring at us and demanded that we tip him for having disturbed his sleep in the wee hours!  I explained to him the situation and if only he had behaved well and helped us, he would have been richer by our tips.  He snared at us and banged his door and with a screech, he started his car and vanished from the scene!

This is the behaviour of most of the Taxi and Auto drivers in Chennai and they have no respect for the jobs that they do or the customers who engage them. Its really frightening and sad that Chennai that is known for its hospitality and friendliness has come to see this day.  How can one feel happy with this kind of attitude and behaviour from the transport drivers who do not understand their responsibility and respect for the job that they are doing?  The entire happiness that you would have derived from out of the trip would be nullified and negated with this kind of welcome that you get in the city.

Through this blog I wish to alert the appropriate authorities and the owners of the Taxi services all over the State to take a note of this seriously as otherwise they would not be able to stand in competition that is inevitable!