Most of us while travelling in cabs, over distances long or short, tend to treat the driver as non-existent; as if we are in our personal cocoons and the driver was outside that barrier, and hence does not matter. From the flip side, the driver, if not stone deaf, is privy to all our conversations either over phone or that with our co-passengers and witness to our emotions, expressions and behaviour, aurally or over the rear-view mirror, if not completely blind! All company executives will agree, the root of the company grapevine starts with the boss's driver!
I always find excuses to start a conversation with the cab-driver, especially when travelling alone, and more often than not, found a font of human experiences, and surprisingly, wisdom. There are some laconic examples too, who simply refuse to go along.
This was late summer of 1997, and my Sardarji driver in the 45 minutes from Calcutta Airport gave an exposition on how Gary Kasparov, World no.1 in chess, was beaten by Deep Blue, the IBM computer. That incident was initiation in this hobby.
During the demonetization, I was in a cab in Mumbai and a call came. The driver apologized and said, "Gharwali kaa phone hai, lena parega, sahab"- "Sir, I have to take this phone from my wife". As expected, the lady of the house was complaining about lack of cash, and the consequent problems. The driver very patiently explained that he was driving, and he could either earn cash by driving or stand in a queue to get it. With a mild sigh and a smile, he explained to me the link between this act of the government and black economy etc. He assured me that this was a temporary discomfort which all honest Indian citizen must endure for the greater good of the country. I laughed and told him that if we were in the jam much longer, the fare would be more than what cash I had. Both of us laughed.
Last year my cab driver dropping me at the airport, a young educated youth from the hinterland promised to stand for state elections in 10 years as an MLA. He counted off the milestones towards his goal. Amazing!
Of all the places, at Aalborg, Denmark I was being dropped at the airport by a Polish immigrant. The topic went right to Mr. Amitabh Bachhan, the moment my nationality was established, and then a critical review of the movie 'Pink', its plot, cinematography, Big B's baritone all in the 30-minute ride!
Last month, I called up a radio cab over the app at Kolkata. The allotted driver, the confirmation message said was good for an interesting chat. I politely asked him whether this was his own car. I was treated to an insightful journey through- performance of Swift Dzire versus Hyundai Xcent Versus Toyota Etios; the Ola-Uber business models and how they had slowly captured the market through slowly changing the incentives of owner-drivers. The most interesting thing he said was that many educated, unemployed youth find it a dignified profession with social acceptance. The stigma is gone and he said he enjoyed talking to his passengers. He asked me what I did for a living, and topic somehow veered to motorcycles, and what else, Royal Enfield Bullet! At the end of the journey all Rs 423 of it ended with two proud owners of Bullet motorcycles parting as friends!
Last week I was in the northern reaches of the country, where a fellow academic had asked me and some other oldies to for help in faculty selection. Half a day was spare and four of us hopped onto a cab to visit the local sights. I was having a conversation with my friend about the thousands of small sub-plots which made Mahabharata such an epic, and that makes Paradise Lost look like a short story! I mispronounced a name, and the driver with a soft cough and apology pronounced it correctly! Then we got in to this animated debate as to why Babruvahan, Arjun's son by Chitrangada, the princess of Manipur did not fight in the war against Kauravas; why Uloopi's son Iravan did; why did Barbarik, Ghatotkach's son and Bhima's grandson, agree to get beheaded, and so forth! What ensued was a treat for those who love this epic, and this man had an encyclopedic knowledge, and that was humbling! On a parting note, he said he was a Yadava, and Yadavas have always had a major role in Indian politics since ancient times. We parted as fellow readers of Mahabharata, with an agreement to continue with this discussion in my next visit.
I do not look forward to having driverless cabs with AI in the driver's seat, no matter what Google or Tesla do!
