10:00 pm – Aatish and Ruchik leave my office premises, fighting with me for not joining them to meet Dada.
10:15 pm – I finally get to leave my office to reach Dada’s house. The bus frequency sucks. My phone keeps on ringing every 5 mins as if they want to update my status on their respective facebook profiles. I cross the Grant Road bridge, with a hope to catch a cabbie.
10:30 pm – Curses! Still unable to trace a cabbie. (Looks like everyone’s sleeping.) I walk around station… Bhatia hospital… Kamat restaurant… Ganga Jamuna juice center… Still no sign of a cabbie…
Finally… I find a decent cab and the trip to reality starts….
There are men… There are working men..
There are races… There are racially discriminative people..
There are people who talk… There are people who let their actions speak..
And finally… There are Gujjus and Maaru’s.. There are Marathis and finally the UPs and Biharis!
Everytime I sit in a cabbie, most of my senses get diverted towards the meter. But for no valid reason, this time, my senses were diverted towards my watch. I have to make sure that I ain’t too late for the darshan. The car reaches near SoBo Central (previously known as Crossroads) and a Meru cab nearly dashes into some private car. I pass a tongue whacking comment, “Looks like the Meru driver is spying on his wife.” The cabbie driver laughs and initiates the conversation, “Saab, the car condition doesn’t matter to these guys because they have already paid Rs. 10,000 as the deposit for the car.” I give a smile and he continues, “The Meru company is owned by Vilasrao’s son and it operates all over India. It was floated so that the illegal funds could be converted into white money.”
We reach Haji Ali and by mistake he drives from the right side of the road. We reach near Lala college and we need to take a compulsory U-turn. He regrets and says sorry. He offers me to cut the fare. I tell him that I have no issues. He apologises again and we take the Mahalaxmi station road. He talks about Jet Airways owned by Naresh Goyal. He talks about the India shining and the progress of India. He talks about the real reason behind the fight for natural gas between the Ambani brothers. He talks about the reason behind basic needs getting dearer. Every word seems so convincing. We drive through Tulsi Pipe road and he talks about the Mayawati-Mulayam Singh feud. He talks about education. He differentiates between Indian law system and laws of other countries. One particular argument that shakes my faith in judiciary is when he asks me, “Dhananjay Chaterjee was sent to gallows because he raped and killed a girl. But I don’t understand how come Qasab and Afzal Guru are still alive, inspite of killing many innocent people.” He mocks about the law system. He praises Atal Bihari Vajpayee but takes a dig on L.K.Advani. He feels sorry for Kandahar hijack.
11:05 pm – I finally reach my destination and he apologizes for taking the long route. He offers me not to charge me. But I decide to pay him complete fare as he made me realise about several socio-eco-political issues. I promise him to write about him in my blog.
Guys, if you get a chance, please take a ride in this cabbie… His name is Sureshchand Yadav from Uttar Pradesh and his taxi number is MH01-X504. As I reach Dada’s place, I tell my friends about this trip to reality. They call me a buffoon and crack jokes about me. I laugh at their jokes because I realised about one particular thing, there is this particular guy who thinks more about the country’s progress rather than being a part of cheap politics.
Hats off to you, Yadavsaab!