IN a Job that required me to be out-of-doors rather than in, I recall a certain part of my life wherein a fair percentage of my time was spent journeying the city in Cabs, better addressed as a Taxi.
I had tagged the whole lot of people behind the wheel of these transporters as a horde of rude, coarse, foul-mouthed, uncouth beings.
My deliberate intent today is to think otherwise and change the bitter to sweet. A surplus plethora of lessons about life, of and from it I have received. Plenty of Ugly to start with, but when sifted, the remains are bigger, far out sizing the Bad which falls through as dust.
One of the firsts had me at a Metropolis for a Job Interview on the day it had been hit by a ‘Strike’. That called to halt all industrial action which meant that even chances of any personal vehicles to be on the road were low let alone Cab services which also went on a go-slow.
The drivers of a few Private Taxis at the airport all clustered in offering passengers a ride to their destinations. Before I could catch a breath all of them were taken but for one with its two occupants. I had to brave it having no other option but to climb in with the driver and his friend – (sound advice always being to play safe in such cases). Hoping to get to the venue on time, I braved the odds. Half way through we stopped, only to have a third companion join the duo. It was one against three now.
Without the security of a cell phone, then, to turn to, at dire state of affairs as mine was, or even for its GPS guidance, I put on a face of bravado as the journey now began through lanes and by- lanes leaving behind the slightly familiar ( to me) main road.
Despite all the horror stories running through my mind of abductions and the like, I took on a threatening stance telling them ( a total truth) of how people on the other side were expecting me within a specific time frame outside which would have them in trouble.
Unperturbed, the three carried on in their own babble, assuring me that everything was in control, each time I put forth my best authoritative tone to cover up my niggling fears.
I have to admit that they knew perfectly how best to get me to where I needed to be well within time, which stood far from being the criminal louts I had conjured them to be.
Another stray but, incident, worth mentioning on my sojourns with Taxi’s per se, occurred on a busy, not -very- favoured Monday morning. I had to make several calls on certain offices located in the hub of the busiest setting in town. Traffic here is almost always in a snarl requiring drivers to be quick and on the move at signals to avoid being wedged in.
Approaching a signal I decided to hop off as I needed to get to the other side of the street and experience had taught me that this was the best place to be able o do so. I stepped out and shut the door of the Taxi in a hurry as every other pedestrian and vehicle too had to wangle out on the word ‘go’.
So! Just at that instant, this taxi too moved ahead; A little too quick for me to realize that my file had been left behind in it. I stood helplessly as the Cab sped away. The day started on a wrong foot, this was THE black Monday after all. Do I curse my slow reaction or the driver’s impatience?
A phone call was all it took to dispel my gloom at the end of the day. The call told me of my file which had been found, and handed safely over into the hands of the taxi owner. Decent integrity of the man behind the wheel of that Taxi did it for me.
Only two cites I choose to mention, but enough to remind me of the goodness of heart that also dwells among and alongside crude dispositions.
