[An1]

Nice to read all the experiences here..& it feels nice to help someone in need. In a way I feel the blessings recieved by helping someone do add to your karma.

Even though giving lifts to strangers is increasingly getting unsafe nowadays, especially in the Metro cities I have always been giving lifts & would still like to help those in need.

I was given a lift recently by a lady to whom I'm very thankful..
I was travelling to New Zealand this year March and after spending a whole day working in the Wellington office was supposed to board a flight to Tauranga. The flight for 1 1/2 hrs. was scheduled to depart close to 07:00 PM on a friday evening. As it was an official travel, I was travelling around New Zealand alone and the travel bookings had been made by my organisation.
On reaching the Wellington airport, came to know the flights to Tauranga have been cancelled owing to strong headwinds blowing from Australia. Could not call anyone back at the office as at 05:00 PM offices close down and you can only talk to the IVR menu.

There are limted flight operators in New Zealand, and only option now was to either board a flight to Auckland, from where further on we'll be transferred by a coach to Tauranga after a 2 1/2 hr. journey or wait at the Wellington airport until flights to Tauranga resume.
(Waiting at the airport was the least likeable option as have started disliking waiting at the airport for more than a few hours following over 48 hours that I had to spend at CDG airport in Paris, sleeping on airport benches & holding onto my luggage. That's another story altogether though).

So the passengers were put on a flight to Auckland and luckily next to me sat this Kiwi lady who was returning from a conference where she was a speaker. We started chatting and she knew a fair bit about India. Got to know that she was a senior medical professional and used to travel around NZ often, and was coming back after quite a few days to her cat and her home in Tauranga, where she used to stay alone.

Flight landed at Auckland airport and we got to know that Air New Zealand staff had not been informed of the travel arrangement to Tauranga to be arranged and it will be another hour before they could arrange a coach for us.
Finally the coach arrived at 09:40 PM, and we started off to Tauranga. The road was nice and it took us almost 2 1/2 hours to reach the city. It was however 12:00 in the night and it had started raining hard owing to the weather disturbances.
I was expecting to be able to get a taxi from the airport and rest at the hotel after a long day of work + travel.

To my Surprise.. Tauranga airport had closed for the day.
Following cancellation of all flights due to bad weather, and the fact that it was not one of the busy airports of New Zealand (almost similar to aiport at Leh, India) all airport staff had left. There was not a soul to be seen around & no taxi's either. Also that it was 12:00 in the night did not help.
The coach staff took out all the luggage and left. The local NZers gradually started to move away to where they had their cars parked & I was standing there looking at the heavy downpour for once & glancing at my watch, thinking of what to do with 2 other people waiting for some of their relatives and the lady I had met on the plane earlier.
There was not even a Taxi number put up at the Airport which I could call.
But then, there are situations where you feel that god sends someone for help. The lady I had chatted to earlier on the plane offered to drop me to my hotel, & although I did not want to cause undue problems, seeing the odds against me including:

• Bad Weather conditions and heavy rain
• Not the best time of the day to look for a taxi or taking a walk
• Absence of any friends or acquintainces in Tauranga

accepted her offer provided she did not had to go too much off the way.

We walked briskly to the parking where she had her car parked. She quickly put the stuff strewn around her car in order for me to put in my bags & drove me to my hotel.
All the way I was feeling how to repay her gratitude & asked her to drop me anyplace on the way she was to go.

She finally dropped me at the hotel, & all I could do was thank her a number of times for her help. I wanted to repay her gratitude, but just did not know how to.

In the frantic mode of getting my luggage out and letting the lady leave for her home, even forgot to give her my card to be able to thank her later or be of any help.

But that incident really made me feel to be helpful to others whenever I could.
As they say, to keep it going.. 'Pay it Forward' !!

[W.A.G.7]

It's interesting to read so many nice experiences, at-least majority of them. For some reason, I have never been asked by anyone to give a lift. Not even once. Many a times, in the rainy season, or when I am returning at home in night; I see people standing at the bus stop waiting for a bus and I feel like offering at-least some of them a lift. (Those in Pune know how horrible the public transport bus service is.) But these days, I would think twice before giving a lift to anybody.

[mempheS.D]

Rule of Thumb - Do NOT offer a lift to a stranger. Better to be safe than sorry. Not even to a kid or senior citizen. Read on...

I grew up in the middle-east and for those who haven't heard, the early to mid-90s was the Golden Era of the "gelf"(Gulf). People were courteous. Expatriates were given due respect. Salaries were good. Education was good. Living standards were good. In short, a good recipe for a perfect happy life.

Coming back to the topic. Personally, I've seen many Arabs (young/old/female) offer lifts to needy Indian/Pakistani/Bangaledshi labourers who would wait near a signal for lift in order to get back to their labour camps. And that too instances where the lift is offered in an S-Class/Jag/7-Series ! Those were the good days. My dad was inspired by this and occasionally used to offer lifts too only when he felt confident and especially when the rest of the family is not in the car.

And then came an era, where some unscrupulous people started taking advantage of this kind gesture for their own benefit. Hijacks, threats, knives, guns...etc.etc. Now if it weren't for these people, courteousness would have prevailed and the needy could at least have hoped for a helping hand. Now rarely does anyone care for a person needing a lift.

You may argue that a kid or a female or a senior citizen may not be too much of a risk. Think again. The miscreants have understood that in order to get a good catch, they need to present a tempting bait. What better than a kid or a female or a senior citizen. It's only human to think emotionally. But, RESIST because it will pay off.

All said and done - I do break my rules at times. For eg, when I see a bunch of school kids asking for a lift in the morning.

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[sumathindra]

Originally Posted by mempheS.D

Rule of Thumb - Do NOT offer a lift to a stranger. Better to be safe than sorry. Not even to a kid or senior citizen.

Honestly this is the best thing to do. Do not offer lift to anybody, it has been discussed what if someone harms us etc. Think about this - what if in the process of offering a lift to anyone (young/old) one meets with an accident and something happens to the other person! Who is responsible for that? Would one live with the guilt of offering a lift thru out life. Think about it.

[Chetanya Sharma]

About 3-4 months back, myself and a friend were out on a late night drive from andheri to bandra bandstand and back. It was a friday I believe and around 11:30pm.

Just as we entered carter road, bandra, we saw a man in his late 30's, dressed in semi-formals lying what looked 'unconscious', almost in the middle of the road. Passersby didn't even bother looking at him. I know we see a lot of beggars laying on the road like that and never bother, but something told us that this guy needs help. After passing 30 meters, I reversed my car and blocked him with my car so that no one runs over him by the time we figure out whats up.

We approached him cautiously and my friend could smell alcohol and suspected he was just very drunk. As a precaution I checked his pulse to make sure he was ok. As soon as we turned him, he kept murmuring 'help me please help me'. My friend checked his pockets for a phone/ID card. I checked his bag. Now, about 4-5 passersby had gathered around. We found a contact in his phone that looked like it was his residence number, called up and a very frightened lady picked up who was this man's sister. She didn't know what was happening so we just informed her that her brother is ok and we need their address to come drop him. She couldn't even figure out the address properly but mentioned that they lived in andheri east. We grabbed his bag, put some newspaper on my seat (dads car). I dusted him down and hollered at the people watching uselessly to come help him up. We put him in the car, put the seat belt on and off we went.

In the back seat this guy kept on saying, " Yeh tune acha nahin kiya santosh " meaning, you did bad to me santosh. We guessed someone had made him drink this much or something. The murmuring was on the whole way. As soon as we got on linking road, there was a police check-post and for the first time at that check-post they stopped our car. We were a little concerned if the police asked who this man was, we wouldn't have a clear answer and we would be mistaken for some goons or something. Later we kept on calling his residence for a proper address, had to wander around for a bit but finally found the place. The guy in the back at times yelled 'left left' or 'right right' to which we didn't bother.

We helped him out and asked some people sitting down the building to help carry him but got a very absurd answer. ' leave him downstairs, he'll go upstairs in the morning.' Me and my friend took him by his hands and put him in the lift, reached upstairs and entered a one room flat with his sister, wife who was pregnant and a 5 year old who was sleeping. The guy kept on saying, ' yeh ache log hain'. We gave them our phone numbers and left.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by Chetanya Sharma

Me and my friend took him by his hands and put him in the lift, reached upstairs and entered a one room flat with his sister, wife who was pregnant and a 5 year old who was sleeping. The guy kept on saying, ' yeh ache log hain'. We gave them our phone numbers and left.

It is incidents like these when a simple decision can change the impact on so many lives. If you hadnt done this, who knows perhaps some vehicle would have run over him. And imagine the impact on his dependents.
Someone will come up and say this could happen the very next day after you helped. But you helped avoid it that day and thats most important. You were that family's guardian angel that day. Thats all I can think of this. Kudos to you and your friend.

[blackasta]

Back in India, I almost always had 1-2 people from my company picked up/dropped along the way, either to or from the office. Do so infrequently here in US too.
Never had any stranger asking for a lift - India or US.

[swiftnfurious]

I believe in "Never give lift to a stranger" theory! But I end up breaking that rule at times too! Some experiences from my side, nothing scary though!

Scene 0:: Heard this story from someone who claimed its true!

Someone kind hearted [person 1] was going somewhere on his bike. Someone in need [person 2] asked for a lift & the kind hearted agreed. Both of them started their journey and had a chit chat for some time. Later both were silent as they ran out of topics. In the mean time the destination for person 2 reached and person 1 informed him. Person 2 didn't bother to get down. Person 1 reminded him politely again & again & finally shook the guy off!! Shockingly he was dead and person 1 was caught by the police for "murdering" person 2!

Scene 1:: In my native, I was riding my bike and was returning home after going somewhere. I saw an old person waving his hand for a lift. Scene 1 rings an alarm hard in my head and I decided not to stop for my own safety. And this old chap is reluctant to back off. He jumps into the middle of the road with his hands wide open [like the umpires signalling a wide] and I had no option but to stop in that narrow road. The guy gets behind me, tells me that he did it because he knew I was not going to stop. He strikes a conversation with me, checks for my details and says he knows my dad & his family. More to it, he starts making fun of my dad's siblings. How I wished I could push him off my bike!

Scene 2:: Years later, my first solo long drive in Swift to Kannur. It was around 9 PM and I stopped in a town to refresh & ask for directions. I saw a guy running into the shop and asked for some bus which actually had left 3-4 minutes back. The guy was so depressed and listening to my route queries, almost pleaded me whether I could drop him on the way. I agreed and we struck a conversation. The guy was a daily wager and spent a little too much time "celebrating" the day and missed the bus. While dropping, he thanked me so much as that was the last bus to his place, which he missed.

Scene 3:: In Bangalore & in my car, my friend & I was returning after meeting another friend. As per his suggestion we took a shorter route and stopped for asking the route. The guy explained the route and checked with us whether we could give him a lift. I agreed and that was one bl**dy mistake!! The guy was drunk & was chewing gutka or something and was stinking like a pig!! Within seconds, I lowered my window, my friend followed suit and it was HELL for the next couple of kilometers till he got down!!

Scene 4:: I was at the Sony world junction, waiting for the green signal. A student knocked on my window, asked whether I could drop him somewhere. I said I could drop them till Domulur and he said ok. Then I see another friend of his suddenly popped up from somewhere and both of them got into the back seat when the navigator seat was free!! And as soon as they got in, they started reading some mags. I was not comfortable at all with two of them at my back seat. I had my eyes in the IRVM till I dropped them off at Domulur.

************

Though some of these incidents are funny to re-collect, I still am not in favor of giving a lift to strangers! I really feel bad for those people waiting in no man's land at 1-2 AM during my Bangalore - Kottayam drive, but I never stopped and will NEVER stop for those guys.

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by ap.meena

Thought I would share my story which is a bit different from the mostly positive ones shared....

Oh boy!! That's scary like hell. Glad that you got away without getting into a mess.

As a thumb rule, I would never ferry anyone whom I don't know personally. With the ever increasing crime rate.

[saion666]

The good:
We have this 'car pool' portal in our office wherein car owners can list their cars and the route and time at which they would be travelling and people can book their seats. It was introduced as a part of some 'green initiative'. Have given lifts to some strangers(from office) who later went on to become friends.

The Bad:
The problem with giving lifts is sometimes people tend to abuse the car. The loud thud of the door, the dirty shoes, the careless opening of the door(once i nearly had a heart attack when my colleague opened the door to get off without noticing the bicycle coming by his side, gladly for me and unfortunately for the cycle rider he just went down the road to save my door and ended with minor bruises) may be a bit annoying.

The Ugly:
However, i do not really support the idea of giving lifts to complete strangers. Have a friend who used to do so regularly,thinking himself to be a good Samaritan only to be robbed and beaten up. He gave a lift to a man who asked him to drop at a desolate place by the side of the road. Two men on bike were following the car and as soon as he stopped he was beaten and robbed. He took this as a lesson and literally does a police verification before allowing anyone in his car now.

[autoholic]

About 3 years back I was returning from Shanghai via a late night flight to IGIA,Delhi. While I was waiting for my brother to pick me up outside IGIA, I saw a very worried and tipsy chinese man talking to someone on the phone. He seemed to be in some big problem. I offered him my help. Apparently he didnt understand a single word of english language. He gave me his phone, on the other side was a chinese who could speak english. The other guy was this guy's boss. He told me the person with me was his technician. He gave me a phone number of a person in Mumbai on whose call this person was here in India and who was supposed to arrange for transportation and stay. I called up the guy in Mumbai. He gave me the taxi driver's contact number he had arranged and the hotel's number. The taxi driver's number was switched off, then I called up the hotel and took their address. Luckily the hotel was in Karol Bagh, on the way to my place. I gestured the chinese to sit in my car. He understood that I was trying to help and sat in my car. When we were driving through the ridge area, which is a jungle area with no street lights, my brother and I joked that the chinese may pee his pants anytime if the area doesnt end soon. After reaching his hotel, we made a call to china to the guy's boss and explained the situation to him who in turn explained everything to the chinese guy. In the end when I was about to leave, the chinese guy in tears, thanked me, hugged me and tried stuck a wad of 100Yuan notes in my pocket. Judging by thickness, I guess there must be 30-40 notes, thats more than Rs20000 at that time. I gave him the money back, hugged him again and left.

Looking back at the incident, the chinese had a good probability of ending up as an article in the next day's newspaper contributing to Delhi's rising crime graph.

[asethi]

Was kind of forced number of times to give lift to policemen on bike in Mohali. They simply used to stop the bike and conversation used to be quite like this:

Policeman: "Kithe Chalaya?"
Me: "Paaji... daftar"
P: "Chal aapa nu raste te chadd de"
Me: "Thik hai... bai jao..."

And most of the times, their rasta used to be on the opposite side of my office! And on one occasion, 2 punjabi policemen (with just their tummies double their size) were sitting on my bike, and I was literally sitting on the fuel tank driving the bike!

[tasuray]

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[CARDEEP]

I took lift from stranger (basically a Delphi Police Lady SI) when I was 11 years old to travel from my school to home & she dropped me very near to my home, much before my other senior mates could reach their homes. However, I was scolded & slapped by my mother for taking lift from strangers as she felt I could have been kidnapped by some gang. Never took a lift from strangers again, just out of the fear of being punished by my mother.

However, when I was in college one of my friend, who used to travel by his M800 used to drop me near mt relatives' places in South Delhi. I never got any chance to help him out at any occasion.

When I got my bike & later the car, I would at times ferry my friend's handicapped sister from home to college & back. Basically I used to do this when my friend or his elder brother won't be around for the purpose. These days I make sure that if someone in my office leaving office at the same time as mine, I drop him/ her at desired place (generally nearest Metro Station/ Bus Stop), & there is another guy who travels with me for almost an hour as his residence is not far from the place I drop him & I get a company for almost an hour (I am not an audiophile by any chance ... & prefer to concentrate on avoiding idiots on road).

On occasions, I have offered lifts to complete strangers, like Haryana Policeman on Gurgaon-Faridabad Road (from a check post on Ram Navmi), an engineering student in Greater Noida who would have walked almost 2 kms on a hot afternoon as he had missed the direct bus to his home & numerous others.

[ArunV]

Originally Posted by saion666

The good:
We have this 'car pool' portal in our office wherein car owners can list their cars and the route and time at which they would be travelling and people can book their seats. It was introduced as a part of some 'green initiative'. Have given lifts to some strangers(from office) who later went on to become friends.

Do u work with Cognizant?

Once i had given lift to 2 complete strangers from somewhere on Mumbai-pune express way till pune. I was in a hired cab from Mumbai to pune and the driver was nice young chap with whom i was talking from mumbai. Almost an hour before pune he asked me if i can give lift to 2 ppl from road side so that he gets Rs100/- extra. Dont know what made me say yes, i was worried from that time till i reached pune and those ppl got down.
Will never do such a stupid mistake in my life.

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