The Taxi Owner

Indica seems to have become the de-facto taxi in India. I signup for one affiliated with AAI from the Indore airport to Ujjain. Getting out of Indore is always time consuming, because of narrow roads, increased traffic, and an occasional block by the railway crossing. One of interesting problems of Indian traffic is that our traffic is a huge mix of pedestrians, bicycles, bikes, autos, cars and other heavy vehicles of different dimensions and speeds. At peak hours, it looks like a kitchen sink, clogged and disorganized. During the day, all hours are peak hours :)

We get out of the city, the car stops and wont start. Another taxi arrives after half an hour. The new person is probably in his late forties, he starts talking by himself. He speaks in a gentle but steady tone. "Sir, so much of your time was wasted. There's a four lane road being built, once that happens, this distance of 60km will be coverable in 40 mins".

I ask him if driving is his only occupation. He tells me it is, he owns 3/4 taxis. "One can only do what one knows. I am illiterate, I used to drive for others. Sirji, one has to work hard in life. Slowly I managed to have my own cars. Now I earn 2/2.5K a day, 50-60k a month". I ask him about all the various roads from Indore and Ujjain, he says most of them have been awful until now, but things are changing. From Indore to various cities, the roads are good, fast. He says they will take toll tax, but he doesn't grudge a toll tax if the roads are good. Because that is better for his business, and his cars would last longer on better roads.

I tell him his driving is good, and he doesn't honk that much. He tells me when there's no need, he doesn't, he has been driving for 25 years, and that one should always be comfortable while driving. Driving faster will only make a difference by 5-10 mins, and he would rather be safe than sorry. Because "sirji, hum akele toh hai nahi. aadmi kitne logon se juda hua hota hai, hum jayenge toh kitne aur logon ko dukhi karke jayenge. Yeh aajkal ke bacche samajhte nahi". Sirji, I am not alone. A person is connected to so many others. Loss of his life will be so much pain to others.

We've reached home, he gives me his business card and his mobile number and takes off.