Hello Parkaashhh, How are you doing today? Shall we go?
The previous day, I had booked a cab to take me to the airport. I had a business meeting at LA. Abdul Qadir, my seattle cab driver, comes 15 minutes prior to my start time from home. I am one of his regular cab customers and he is good company during the 30 minute drive to the airport. He still finds it hard to pronounce my name, but I do find it amusing to be called Parkaashh.
He drives the cab 5 days a week for 10 hrs a day, then he works in the weekend as a pharmacist trainee at Walgreens and also attends the Bellevue Community College to take Pharmacy classes. He sometimes assists his teacher as a lab assistant. 3 jobs and classes to attend...too much too do for a living? Nope. Abdul is simply driven because of his dream, a dream to become a pharmacist, to have a good job to support his family, here and back home in Somalia, and more importantly to earn respect from folks around him who treat him as nothing more than a cab driver !
He is happy the way I talk to him with respect. He says I am his favorite customer. Yeah, he must be saying that to all his regular patrons. But according to him he has a reason - He relates himself to the indian community. The work ethics, the desire to lead a better life, the ability to communicate in the same language, the capacity to do any kind of job...these are the qualities that inspire him to live his dream.
He knows me well now. I have hired his cab services three times till date and each time he tells me how good it is that I had the opportunity to complete my education before I started working full time. I agree to that. He is envious, but he is also happy for me.
Abdul is 28, two years older to me, works his ass off and so do I. Every time, I take a ride, I learn something from the brief time I spend with him. Much more than what I learnt in the classroom!
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6 comments:
Cab Drivers are interesting people. I (i should say 'we' - including my colleagues) also have a favourite cabbie who usually makes trips to the airport for me.
He is of Indian origin and hell of an insightful guy. He can talk on and on about the ways and manners of different communities and ethinicities in London. I wonder even if a professor of social sciences could talk as much and as insightfully as him.
Ditto with me here too!
Have been going to Amsterdam on official travel for sometime, and there's a cabbie who picks me up at the airport there. He is a native from Surinam, has Indian roots from 2 generations behind, is making a 'respectful' living in Europe, and trying to get to something bigger slowly! And he speaks sense about the world around!
Hard to imagine any struggler doing sucha thing in India simply bcos its not a respectable job! (I wish that happens sooner here....)
Well, the cabbie is the flavor of the month, I guess ! :)
Cabbie cabbie mere dil me.... Khayaal aaaaata hai!
(don't kill me for this stupid PJ) :-P
Keep writing
Cab driver has impressed u. and he is impressed by you, in return. That is because u feel the 'Indianness' amongst you, is the common factor, what comes on the surface !
It is great to see the 'ghoda gadis''s there also. You are fond of ghada gadis, and even we are also the ones, love 'ghodas' and 'gadis' they pull !
You remember, when we went to 'Titwala Ganesh Mandir' you were so happy to travel by gadi. we had the option to go by rik. But we opted the latter.
ok. cu.
hmmm... havent been here for some time and i see a big change already :), now in the US, eh? great man and all the best!
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