If you live in the Howrah district of Bengal, then your e-rickshaw rides are going to be very interesting and informative, that absolutely free also. All you need is to sharpen your general knowledge.
Recently a
Facebook user named Sankalan Sarkar has shared a post. In which he has shared
information about the e-rickshaw driver named Suranjan Karmakar of Bengal's
Liluah (Howrah district) whose unique way of offering free
rides left him impressed.
When
Sankalan and his wife were riding in an e-rickshaw, popularly known as TOTO in Bengal, driver Karmakar told Sankalan and
his wife he would not charge them any fare if they answered his 15 general
knowledge questions.
The post reads,
"He turned around and asked us, ‘I’ll let go of the fare if you can answer
15 general knowledge questions I’m going to ask you".
Although
initially Sankalan felt that in case of giving the wrong answer, this driver
would surely demand double the fare from him, but his thinking proved to be
wrong and Just to know the questions he agreed to answer the
questionnaire and also said that he'd give the driver the fare regardless.
“My wife was amused. Frankly, my first thought was that he was not too happy with the fare he had quoted and would try to double it if we goofed up on even one question,” Then the quizzing began with a much cliched question of who wrote the National Anthem. “I was now sure he was a crack-pot. He accepted his mistake, though,” Sarkar wrote.
The first
question was an easy one: "Who wrote Jana Gana Mana Adhi?". The extra
word made Sankalan think the e-rickshaw driver was not in the right frame of
mind. But when he asked the second question, he realised the GK quiz was real.
Sankalan Sarkar Fb post on 'Adbhut Totowala' of Bengal
The post
continued: “‘Who was the first CMof West Bengal?’ Now it was my turn to eat
humble pie. Using all my presentation skills gathered from a 13-year corporate existence, I tried
B.C.Ray. I was embarrassed to know it wasn’t the correct answer.”
“This
Vikram-Betaal-like thing went on for some more time. From Sridevi’s birthday to
the world’s first test-tube baby, we covered a wide range of topics. I asked
him one or two, and he answered them all. I was impressed,” the post read.
Towards the end
of the quiz, the driver told Sankalan that he dropped out of school in
Class 6 due to
financial constraints but has a habit of reading every day till 2 AM at night. That's not all.
He told him he is a member of the Liluah Book Fair Foundation. He referred to
himself as 'Adbhut Totowala'. Even anyone can Google him by this pseudonym.
He went on to
reveal that he marks the birth anniversaries of prominent people by pasted
a A4 sized laminated picture of Tipu Sultan on the Toto windshield
“Over time, the likes of Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, Manohar Aich,
Kalpana Chawla, and many more have found space on his Toto,”
In a bid
to promote religious harmony, the driver said even though he is a
Hindu, from time-to-time, he also wears a skull cap to embrace India’s diverse
culture, pulling out one from his pocket to prove so.
The post, which
carries a photo of Suranjan Karmakar, has collected nearly 300 likes and 60
shares. The post, shared on 20 November, has garnered various several
comments on social media. Several people have praised Karmakar for his immense
knowledge. Others also claimed that they knew him and calling him a
“fascinating" person.
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