Everyone has a taxi horror story to share, a tale that may involve scamming, intimidation, drunken driving, faulty shock absorbers, unending traffic jams, malfunctioning meters -- or simply hedious body odor. Mine... is a little hatke!
Oppressive evening heat and humidity is melting my face and I'm choking on the settling dust. All I want to do is get home and the long ride ahead is already such a put off... But as they say... Picture abhi baki hai mere dost...
A tired frown on my face, waiting for more than 30 mins ... and out of the blue another cab comes into sight. “Sion?” I ask. Shaking a NO, the driver zooms ahead, disappointing me for the umpteenth time. This brings to light the fact that the law states that If you ask a cab driver to take you to some place, he cannot refuse. He has to take you, if he doesn’t, One can approach the nearest traffic cop and report the cab driver. But do we exercise it? YES We did... and guess what happened?
After a similar hardly working day... Kabs and me took a cab from work and started our zig zaggy jerky ride home... Suddenly, the cabbie realises that his cab's gas is about to pass out! Forget the cab... we were about to pass out with the thought of finding another cab... now being supposedly an even shorter distance than it was; before we started... Well to top it off the pained look on the cabbie's face prompted us to get off before he passed out.
So Kabs and me tried for about 15 mins to hail a cab when suddenly we see this "Knight in shining armour" (pun intended due to the whiteness of his shirt) stops a cab right in the middle of the road. He asks us to get in... We stare at him and then at the cabbie who is staring back at us... daring us to get in and get thrown out! In the middle of this eye balled tennis match; the Night and our Knight prompts us to get in... We hardly get a greatful "Thank You" out of our mouths that the cabbie rushes out as if its been set free off a spring...
What happens next? Well... We do get thrown out of the cab... in the middle of no where... just to start our hide and seek with the taxi all over again.
Layoffs across the world means fewer people are taking cabs in Mumbai City. Which means less money for taxi drivers. For no discernable reason, the cabs still did not want to stop for me whenever I flagged them. This has led me to become superstious and the need to drag my friend; Jit everyday to hail a cab since he has proved time and again that his charm works wonders with the cabbies... and they stop everytime they see him...
I've lost count of the number of cabs that are metered up with "For Hire" shouting out of their rolling lungs indicating they were free, but just zoom past as if their houses are on fire.
Feels like all the cabbies have conspired against me by always refusing short-distance rides. This will make me healthier by forcing me to walk for about 10 kms everyday.
Guys... Listen In... Do not believe whoever told you SION is a short distance destination!! Just tell them to Go get me a Ride!
