“Abhi high tide chal raha hai madam. Itna tez nahi jaane ka hai”, the driver critiqued an Audi A6 zipping through Bandra-Worli sea-link at well over 140kmph, while he ploughed his Santro at the prescribed 50kmph with clinical precision.
I nodded my head unconvincingly, thinking about all the times I have driven my puny i10 at 100kmph+ on that very sea link.
He didn’t mind my lack of enthusiasm as he drawled on about the correlation between high tides and wind speeds, the probability of cars spiraling out of control and damaging themselves and other cars, their hoods hanging precariously over the bridge, staring into the sea.
That’s the quintessential Mumbai cab wallah – a highly opinionated, imaginative, talkative aspirer.
He has an opinion on pretty much everything, right from the futility of the new flyover at BKC to the effectiveness of Modi’s Government. He can talk about a wide variety of topics, ranging from the Visarjan schedule in Dadar to the Mother Mary festival in Bandra. He aspires to buy a flat in suburban Goregaon, while he owns one already in faraway Vasai. He drives all day and all night, through rain and shine, peak hours and peaked peak hours, highways and alley-ways, and bad roads and worse roads, because he has a vision and he is driving towards it.
Sometimes, I feel paltry in front of the Mumbai cab-wallah, me with only dreams of next month’s salary and innovative ideas of how to spend it, me whose vision is defined by the next big vacation.
P. S. This post is the fourth in the A-Z blogging challenge series for April.
P. S. This post is the fourth in the A-Z blogging challenge series for April.
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