A Ride to Remember
If you remember reading one of my last blogs, you will recall my love of talking to strangers. And if you don’t, it is particularly because of the ‘No Strings Attached’ phenomenon. If the lockdown has taught me something, it is essentially the importance of socializing. After all, how long one can find comfort inside their own cocoon!
It was one of those days when I decided to skip the metro and took an Uber instead. It is important to mention this because I only do that when I am looking for some peace and want to stay away from the hustle of the city. Little did I know what was in store for me next. To begin with, my phone was running out of battery. So using it for anything other than booking a cab and keeping some battery until I reach was not possible. After minutes of waiting the cab arrived and as soon as I made my way inside, the first words were uttered. ‘Madam, aapne extra rounds lagwa dia’. As if it was my mistake he couldn’t pick the location. Nevermind, there is no way you can argue with them. I once tried to argue with an Auto Driver because of a different route I knew, the offence he took was beyond what I could have imagined. So I let it be.
Five minutes into the drive, the hot topic popped up finally. It seemed as if he couldn’t take it anymore and had to let it out. ‘Madam, Hum Uber walo se dukhi hogaye hai. Not that Ola is better, par chaliye atleast vo issi desh ki company hai’. I nodded. He went on to explain the tax cuts of crossing the city and how they were at a disadvantage because of that. After numerous rounds of calculations, it only seemed to me that he didn’t like rides which crossed the city. But minutes later the chaotic traffic in Delhi seemed to bother him and Ah, how pleased he was to cross the city now. I couldn’t help but laugh.
Since the ETA was still 30 minutes, I knew there was a huge bag of stories lined up for me. It was then that he told me that I was only his second ride since morning and that he hadn’t received his payment from the first ride yet. Certain questions were shooted up and finally, he made his way to the customer service of Google Pay. That round of answering questions vaguely made me realise how little I even know of these digital transactions. But there wasn’t enough time for me to contemplate. My mind was mostly occupied in anticipating what was to come next. It was then with a heavy sigh he said, ‘Humko toh pasand hi Nahi hai yeh GPay aur Paytm’. As if it wasn’t clear until now. But okay, I had made my peace with it.
If these daily problems were not enough he decided to get philosophical. Although it started with how his friend had fainted in the morning. To his surprise, the friend has immediately taken a bath, that is, a few minutes after waking up. With a tone of caution, he proceeded, ‘ Madam, hum toh aisi bewakoofi Kabhi Na Kare’. ‘Aare soke utho, garam paani piyo, Bhagwan ka Naam lo, tabhi din ki shuruaat hoti hi’. Alright! I now not only know about the things he doesn’t like but also how his daily routine looks like. With the temperature dropping below 5degrees, how can one not hear someone saying ‘Kitni zyada thand hai Iss saal’. So did he.
All this while I was a patient listener with not more than a 10-word contribution to the entire conversation. We crossed the area where some protests were happening. The Road Blockade and deployment of security startled him and within seconds he switched over to Politics. I was surprised it took him so long to even bring up this subject. Hence, began a monologue again. It took an interesting turn from Political Leaders to Employment Generation. And there he said, how unwillingly he had to work here despite being an Engineer. I surely did not anticipate this but I did feel bad. But as I said I did not have the time to contemplate. Within seconds the monologue continued and I just listened.
So if something I learnt that day, was not to contribute in conversations that have a momentum of their own. If I had missed talking to strangers, listening people rant was an experience after ages too. That entire ride was an event itself that I am sure I cannot forget for a long time to come. Sometimes even things like these add up to such an important part of interaction in the outside world that we don’t realise. It is only now that I see what all I had taken for granted.
