It has always been somewhat of a mystery to me - why is it that we ignore the very people who help us in reaching our destinations throughout the day?
To me, travelling is intimate. If there is someone who is not only sharing that sacred space with me but is, in fact, making it possible for me to reach my destination - then that person is not to be ignored.
It doesn't matter how short the distance is - if I'm going from Point A to Point B then it’s a journey - it is special.
I am immediately drawn to starting a conversation and it is only after establishing a level of comfort that the rest of the journey spins a bond of understanding - even if spent in silence, it is not a cold, strange silence but an easy one. We are two human beings sharing a magical journey together, it says, and I sit back, relax and think. Again, there is something different about ‘thinking while sitting in a moving vehicle. Imagine, you’re in a bubble floating around space, exploring a new world with wonder... your face pressed against the window - now, imagine that face is mine!
When I'm in a moving vehicle, I look at everything outside with a new
perspective, from where I'm sitting - a new world is going by, and the driver is my guide.
Mustn't I get to know my guide? I’m in exploration mode and one of the unconquered lands is my guide’s thoughts.
So, over the years, I’ve had several conversations and almost all of them have been entertaining save a few - either because my guide was too grouchy at that point in time or too shy.
Yet, every conversation has been a lesson - something new to learn and ponder upon.
It was pouring rain, and the clouds may have made the day feel gloomy, but, for the gentleman who was ferrying me, it was the perfect time to crack a joke.
“Policemen are like frogs,” he paused for effect, “they come out only in the rains.”
I broke into a hearty laugh while he grinned at me. “Madam, this is my job - I make sure that my passengers laugh and leave my auto rickshaw in a happy frame of mind. I’ve made a lot of friends this way.”
Here was a man after my own heart.
Another conversation had me asking a question in anguish, “Why can’t we be united as a country?”
“If within our families there is so little unity, how can the society as a whole unite?” he said, posing a question that in one brief profound sentence made me think about the issue in a new light. I was more than dumbfounded by these words of wisdom which I often quote in discussions.
Not only do I get nuggets of wisdom from my guides, I also get breaking news from their hometowns.
The latest hometown gossip from one driver was quite colourful. A dwarf killer on the loose! It seems that in his village, there was a dwarf killer who had gone to jail, and having returned after his release, was feared even more heavily. The entire village made sure they didn’t offend him!
Talking about hometowns, I recall an incident of a restless man, uneasy in this city.
When I told him where I wanted to go, instead of the usual non committal nod, his reply was, “I’ll go anywhere...I have nothing to look forward to.”
He spoke about how he had no family in the city and he felt so lonely. “I don’t even have a wife and I’m already so old,” he said sullenly. The exasperation from prolonged loneliness resounded in his voice but he made jokes about it and even recited a shaayari in answer to my questions. Unfortunately, I was unable to record it.
Loneliness is a recurring theme. Most of these drivers are migrants in the
city, whose families continue to reside in their village.
They talk about their families with delight, pleased to be given a chance to reminisce and share their feelings. Perhaps, talking to an empathetic stranger is therapeutic.
But, they are always incredibly upbeat through all these hardships, deriving strength from them instead of suffering.
Their’s is a hard knock life - having to drive all day long through an unyielding, humid city with heavy traffic, cannot be easy. Light banter can only help and nowhere else will you hear of more interesting observations.
I was discussing the increase in the levels of pollution with one cab driver, and he had the funniest insight to offer - he dug his finger into his nose and looking intently at me, proclaimed, “It is definitely because of the pollution that we have so much more dirt in our noses!”
So, as I look out from my little bubble, trying to understand the strange world passing me by, it is the voices of these conversations merged together in a crescendo that continue to fill me with bursts of enlightenment.
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