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His name was Ramarajan, we ought to know, he said. He is on this business, with his brother as a partner.

"No, I can't stop work. You shoot your questions. I shall answer them, while I assemble the sports bike", he continued.

Ramarajan rents bicycles. He has a hundred of them. Around the lake, there are some six operators, each with a comparable population. They charge five rupees an hour for the use of the bikes.

"Yes", Ramarajan said, "we recover the full cost of the bikes in two seasons - flat. After that, the bikes go to the plains"

Ramarajan lent me four bikes. No ledgers. No identification. No advance. No book-keeping. No - nothing. Ramarajan explained, "The economy bikes cost around two thousand rupees a piece. We don't have to bother much about their maintenance, because they are new to start with.

"What if the customers run away with the bikes? " - I asked matter-of-factly.

"How far can they go? They wouldn't dare. None would venture to escape anywhere beyond the municipal limits of Kodaikkanal", declared Ramarajan. I admired his unassailable confidence.

There was a lonely case, though, he added as an after-thought. Three years ago - may be. The bicycle-thief was nabbed at Batalkund, forty eight hours later. He was given a good thrashing. Nobody gets such ideas now. Nobody - absolutely. Ramarajan was certain.

Chidambaram joined the post graduate course, Fall 69. He bought a second hand car from an outgoing student for three hundred dollars. It was a four year old vehicle. It was in good keep, air-conditioning still functional. Two years later, as the course was over, Chidambaram sold the car for a hundred dollars. The prices of used cars, were fixed only by the vintage of the model, over there.

He had to take a flight homeward, at the Friendship Airport, some fifty miles away. He could have hired a taxi to reach the airport. He could have, but he didn't. Instead he engaged a car from a rental agency. After reaching the airport, he handed over the keys to another outlet of the agency. It  was far cheaper than hiring a taxi. Chidambaram bought boxes of chocolates, for the children, in the money so saved.

"Can I not get a motor bike on rent?" - I inquire.

"I would not advise such risks", Ramarajan answers.

"Why, but why ? You are used to hiring mobikes at Goa, for example", I elaborate.

"You may be surprised - renting push-bikes, by the hour is almost extinct in the plains. It has become vulnerable. Far away somewhere in a rural corner, you may locate a friendly shop-keeper. In my native village at Kodvaasel, there is a shop. But I may not get a bike on hire."

"Why ?"

"Because the shop owner does not trust me, though he is related to my sis-in-law - in a way."

It costs a good hundred rupees to engage an auto to go to old Delhi. I have a driving license. I guess I can drive an auto. You give me one. I shall operate the machine myself and return it safely to an authorized agent at the old Delhi station. With cent per cent overheads, petrol to my account, it will drain only fifty bucks, off me - so I hope. The arrangement suits. I do not need the push-bikes of Kodai or the mobikes at Goa. I want an auto. An auto, here at Delhi. That makes more sense to me.

Pity, nobody is ready to offer!

Ramarajan  said, "If I were in Los Angeles and had three cars, I would start a car rental. Instead if I had a single auto and that too in Daryagunj, I would rather engage three drivers. I get to make more money that way. That's why!"

This analysis was done after a vacation in Kodai where renting of push bikes is still a healthy and a sought after transaction. Possibly nobody is offended -- everybody is happy. If somebody were to cause lease autos at Daryagunj, four hundred thousand auto drivers in Delhi will be threatened. There could be a violent reaction. As I am writing this, industrial units in the non-conforming areas are on agitation. A Postal strike has been going for the last 200 hours. The consuming public is too tired of such showdowns even to take note of the same. Amongst the first world nations there aren't enough people, they say. You can get a car easily but not a driver. But it is a rata jatra -- over here. Everybody wants to be involved in dragging the rath (whether his/her inputs are needed or not) and expects to make an honest buck out of that effort. That is why Pitroda once said there are gate keepers in all the Bhawans (at Delhi) and everyone of them would want to scrutinise your application. We have long back lost the sensitivity to challenge if the gate keepers are relevant indeed. We part with the demanded haftas and continue to keep our version of social security alive!