May Day … honoring self and job
I am not an educated man; my
families were never rich and neither was I. My childhood was such a long and
unexciting experience. I used to think that my childhood was static. My
ambition as a child was never to be a doctor or an engineer like other kids,
but to be a grown up; just to skip over that sore, lengthy childhood travel. I was
just one an uncared-for kid out of a family of seven kids that just got grown
up to be a casual taxi driver.
I live a simple and routine life. I
start each day with a routine of what I call my regular-adventure; thinking
about the kind of customers and the amount of money I would make.
I have met several people; I have
shared plentiful topics and ear to various desperate as well as useful personal
stories. I have listened to the radio for many years all day long. I have
almost seen all corners of the city and perceived so many things,
just driving! Driving different folks, all day long, every day…
I may seem one broke, hopeless,
casual taxi driver; but I am not. I discovered that whenever I am engaged in
any topic of conversation, I end up suggesting smart things that put people in
wonders.
I used to ask myself how a smart
person like me ended up being a taxi driver, how I ended up transporting people
that I don’t even know. I got my answer to this one question I always ask from
one of my regular customers. He is a guidance counselor at an NGO. On one
random day that I forgot the topic of discussion now, he said “we are
responsible for what happens in our life; we somehow had desperately asked for
the kind of person we are now, knowingly or unknowingly. After all, you get
what you asked for.”
After these last phrases I was not
in control of driving. I was rather being driven in to my own childhood period,
‘my long, sore childhood experience’ as I always put it. I used to feel that my
childhood was so long that I will never grow to be an adult. I used to pray for
some miraculous time machine to transport me in to an adult in one of my waking
days.
Well, “you get what you asked for”
and here I am, a driver, a transporter. I drive all kinds of people to their
destination, to their goal, to their dream… to wherever, they ask me to. I have
a role that anyone can’t easily understand or realize. But again, I am that
broke casual driver that transports the crowd to wherever they rush.
I think I am a rebellious taxi
driver, I bet no casual taxi driver thinks like me. It’s because I enjoy
driving, I enjoy transporting. I hate to just sit and not go; I want to be
always in drive. I hope that desperate childhood query of mine got the answers.
I no more think that I am growing static; I am dynamic now, continually in
move. Driving is something I give out of desire and affection. I am the help,
the miraculous time machine I needed once to transport me away from my
childhood.
I don’t only drive over the roads
but through the roads of anyone I transport. I share issues with my customers;
I share their ride and share their thoughts. I think of myself as an integral
part of their rush, their adventure. I always drive for two places; one, to my
customers’ destination, and another, to my regular-adventure.
I think I am a happy man now, busy
with my regular-adventure, busy driving, busy transporting people to wherever
they dash; the way I asked for, the way I wanted it.
Published on zoma magazine - June 2012 issue
Published on zoma magazine - June 2012 issue
