I had a tenant named Nick Chang from Washington, DC. Nick was Taiwanese but held a green card for the USA. He worked as a software engineer and was a Buddhist interested in visiting several Buddhist sites in India. He particularly wanted to visit Sarnath, so I suggested he hire an auto-rickshaw for a round trip. However, Nick was uncomfortable with this idea because he worried he wouldn’t be able to meditate if someone was waiting for him. Knowing the hassle foreigners can face with auto-rickshaw drivers, I decided to arrange a trusted driver, Raju, to take Nick to Sarnath. Raju dropped him off and returned as planned.
On the way back, Nick hired another auto-rickshaw, which turned out to be quite expensive compared to Raju’s fare. Nick claimed he had reserved the entire auto, but the driver let other passengers join. This was inconvenient, but the situation soon deteriorated. The driver made a stop at a railway station to buy something and returned with a young girl who then sat next to Nick in the auto. The driver started making inappropriate suggestions, asking Nick if he would like to spend time with the girl.
Nick firmly refused, but the driver persisted, first asking for Rs. 5000, then Rs. 4000, Rs. 3000, and finally Rs. 1000 for an hour. When Nick continued to refuse, the driver even asked for Rs. 500 just to spend a little time with the girl in the auto. Despite Nick’s continuous refusals, the driver was insistent. Realizing that Nick was not going to agree, the driver then stopped the auto about 3 kilometers from where Nick needed to go, claiming the vehicle had a problem. He told Nick that Assi, his destination, was just a short 3-minute walk away. Trusting the driver, Nick disembarked, only to find that the walk took him over 30 minutes to reach my home.
Nick was understandably distressed after his first day in Varanasi, and I was shocked to witness this new form of exploitation in my hometown. While I had heard about prostitution near railway stations, I never realized how deeply integrated it could be with local services, including auto-rickshaw drivers acting as intermediaries.