Confessions of a Taxi Driver
Its been a real long
time I haven’t been able to give some extra time to my blogging talent. The
creative bugger inside me restrained to write the same vehicle and travel stories
time and again. It says enough of the local trains, Autowallahs and high time I
try to give some entertaining stuff to my beloved readers.
Funny, but all these thoughts poured in while I was
travelling for yet another business trip, this time in my regular Pre-paid
Taxi. I was to catch a flight for my
second home ( Chennai). Yes, it’s a second home as my work office is based
there and it’s the place that I travel most only second to my in-laws house
:p Just kidding.
Alright, so amidst all this thinking, I was getting interrupted
and invaded by a great Character Santosh Tiwari, who is supposed to be my
regular taxi driver on every trip. Ladies and Gentleman, its my pleasure to
share with you some good, bad and ugly stories of my new found character. I
have been able to gather or lets say still gathering these entertaining,
confused or lets say twisted life of Santosh only due to my frequent
travelling. Thanks to Mumbai traffic that each of my trip gives me roughly
around 4 hours ( to and fro) with this crazy yet simple man who was all the
time narrating his activities in life whether Iam interested or not ;) Courtesy to Santosh that I have almost
travelled in every type of a Radio Taxi in Mumbai as like every other Radio
taxi driver, he has managed to promote him more than the Radio Taxi he drives
in. For travelers like us, just like Hotels where we stay, we get used to with
taxi drivers if we travel more than a couple of times. For me, I feel very
secured and safe to travel with a known driver than a real stranger every time
as I travel so often and many a times unknowingly, we expose ourselves to them.
There are times when I need to travel mid-night or sometimes really early up in
the morning which is why I chose to have a regular taxi driver for myself.
Santosh is a nice
talkative, emotional, punctual, honest, dedicated man of around 35 years of
age. Average physique and looks that qualify him as a typical Bihari Babu
however his command on Marathi language cuts him above the rest of his breed. Specially
imported from Bihar roughly 20 years ago, he can speak very good Marathi which
can shy the proud Marathi manoos. He started driving Auto in the initial years
and has had a troubled life like many others who come to Mumbai to make a
living. Has two dependants in his family, a dedicated wife and an ailing son
roughly around 9 years of age. Just like any other driver, he has to ensure he
pays daily a specific amount to his employer ( Some Radio Taxi agency) and earn
himself the balance which is handful to make both ends meet.
So far so good but there is a flip side for his personality
and it is this side which tempted me to write about him. Santosh is a family
man but is managing two families at a time which makes it a gharwali –
baharwali episode. Cant say a story as I get his developments in bits and
pieces like a typical TV soap as and when I catch up with him during my travels
:D :p Due to time constraint, I will
break up my blog into small episodes which will make you eagerly wait for more
to come.
Stay tuned to read on how Santosh started his innings as a caretaker for the
second family ;) Whats the story of his ailing son?
