We took our trip with Dara singh from end Dec 08 to early 2009, and had the worse experience of our life. He is greedy, scheming, his own boss (while driving his customers around), rude, manipulative and more.
We were suppose to have him take us from Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Puskhar, and Udaipur and back but we end up booking a flight from Udaipur to Delhi as we can no longer tolerate his disgusting attitude.
My trip is completely ruined by this driver who is only interested in trying to fleece his customer. He is forever trying to get us to stay at hotels he recommend although we told him we had made all the arrangements already; eat at restaurants he dictate when we want a simple place (and he turns sarcastic claiming we could not afford); and drove us to change currency at this weird warehouse that has only a small table. We had to insist he sent us to a proper bank. He refused to drive us to the local bazaar and wanted to drive us to factory outlets instead. The whole trip is a continuous battle of what he likes to do. Not only was it draining, we were utterly disgusted with the way he is behaving.
Lunch is always at 3pm + because that's when he like to stop (when he is hungry). We learn to carry lots of snacks to munch in the car. When requested to drive slightly faster on highway, he claims it is dangerous. You should have seen the way he talked on his mobile non-stop, once even trying to open his notebook while giving a telephone number to his caller! Look! the guy talked about safety. And we got a fright of our life when he suddenly shouted into his mobile when he got mad; one day. Because he is always on his mobile, it rings non -stop and text messages were sent continously.
There is so much negative things to say about our driver that it might take ages to write this post regards our experience.
The last straw was on the second last day of our trip. At Udaipur, we want to visit a Fort 84Km away. 45mins into the journey, he said, "TOday is extra, i am not saying you have to pay me. This is just a reminder to tell you this is not included in the trip" we were completely baffled, our price includes everything. At this time,we really had had enough of his nonsense. we asked to be driven back to the hotel since we do not need any extra services and has lost our mood for sight seeing. He refused and went on driving; even after we told him several times to turn back. So we spent one whole day from 9am to 3pm+ and not getting off the car; and finally arriving at the hotel.
We paid him that same evening and resort to paying for a cab to take us to the airport instead of him.
For those who are traveling in Rajasthan, there is really no need for a driver. As long as you plan your connections well, you can opt for a tuk tuk , very cheap, a local cab is good too. All places once reached is easily accessible on foot. Cabs are everywhere, outside waiting.
We wish we could turn back the clock and do our trip differently. It is very hard to brain washed ourselves to say India is not too bad, it is just our ill luck regards this Dara Singh!!