Family affair with a rickshaw guy

Caught a taxi back to Chennai with a couple of people I met at Ramana's ashram both studying to be yoga teachers.. in fact I have met so many yoga teachers here its getting funny... We went through a very quiet place called Gingee which had ruins of a magnificent fort. we only had half an hour to explore so didnt get to see all of it but its worth the side trip and the taxi fare which was expensive compared to the buses..
Back in Chennai I found a room showered ate and finally slept. The next day I needed a rickshaw to get my bus ticket and was ushered (after a very half arsed negotiation) to a very shiny new rickshaw. The guy said he had been driving for 13 years still worked for someone else and had 3 children. He showed me where to buy shoes (oooh sooo cheap)... and then back to the hotel and he said he would show up when I needed to catch the bus. I was fine with this because by the looks of him sitting on the street most of the day I may well have been the only fare he had all day.
When I checked out of the hotel he was there waiting and he realised I had a few hours to kill before the bus.. hence the proposition.
If I go to a tourist shop and hang around for a minimum of 10 minutes I dont have to buy anything but I just had to look his kid would get a free t-shirt. I thought what the hell.. so we whizzed past his house (literally a hole in the wall across the road). Picked up his ten year old son and a nephew and his very chattery daughter who would have been two.. she was hilarious so we poked each other and made faces in the back of the rickshaw. I checked out the shops and the kid got his t-shirt.. and this was probably the most fun I had all day in Chennai. The kids practiced their three words of English and the dad got paid well and we all had an adventure. I also found it is really good when in India to know a little bit about cricket.. their eyes light up at the mention of Ricky Ponting or Shane Warne...
Its great!!!