A 38-year-old Annamalai drives an autorickshaw in Chennai, which is a very special one in the city as it brings instant smiles and happiness to the commuters.
Amidst the routine of unpleasant travel fare negotiations with autorickshaw drivers, Annadurai seems like a happy ray of shine as he does not charge a single rupee over the government-fixed travel fee and always uses the meter.
Annadurai said, “Only by accident I became an autorickshaw driver and it has been 12 years now.”
His autorickshaw, which has been named ‘Amazing Auto’, provides over 25 magazines and newspapers to commuters. And surprisingly, passengers on Amazing Auto get an iPad Pro, a laptop, a tab, access to Amazon AWS and Google Nest. Apart from this, Annadurai also offers chocolates kept in wooden baskets and soft drinks inside mini cooler boxes to the passengers.
“For me, customers are everything. Initially, I started providing them with papers and their appreciation made me realize that if you keep a customer happy, they never forget you. From then on, I started providing more facilities to them”, said Annadurai.
His polite attitude and policy of treating strangers well has catapulted him to heights where he has given lectures in many colleges and corporate institutions and yet never boasted about them.
Asked how he could afford such expensive amenities and high-speed Wi-Fi, Annadurai said he never had a dearth of customers who loved his autorickshaw and that’s why he became a normal person. Autorickshaw drivers earn three times that of drivers.
Recently, Annadura’s story started trending on social media after being recognized by Anand Mahindra’s tweet.
Annadurai said he was overwhelmed by the action and that Anand Mahindra was one of his three idols, the other two being Ratan Tata and Azim Premji.
Annadurai is also a way of giving back to the community during the pandemic as he provides free rides to teachers and nurses.