A taxi ride I will never forget

I was working in this government factory at Nasik which made aircrafts. I had a co-worker named Satwane. Quite a serious chap. I used to share a room with him in the town. For him, I was yet another Madarasi. He did not care about my caste. The guy was from a town near Pune. And he did not like the Brahmins there. He was bitterly complaining about how conservative they were. One day, Satwane introduced me to Sinnarkar. He said the guy was his classmate at Nagpur University. Sinnarkar got a job at the same place I worked. He was a dalit who were at that time known as scheduled caste. How did I know he belonged to SC? Because Satwane told me. We three used to take a long walk on the weekend in the city on Sundays. Especially after having a heavy lunch and watching a Hindi movie. We also took take trips to Deolali which was a hill resort. It was cool and had some nice restaurants.

Satwane was criticizing Sinnarkar that scheduled castes like him got jobs easily. To that he got the reply "we have been oppressed for centuries." One day Sinnarkar was boiling with rage when he heard about the police shooting which took place at the Marathwada University which left four dalit kids dead.

One thing about Sinnarkar which really got my attention was that he was very clean in his habits and organization. He kept himself and his place very clean. He was clean shaven, clothes neatly pressed. He did not smoke. And had excellent manners especially when it came to eating. One could say that he was almost a neat freak. I could not help comparing Sinnarkar with Mohan, a Tamil Brahmin from Bombay who also worked and lived in Nasik. Mohan was around 28 years old. He literally stank. His roommates, four of them non-brahmin youth from TN used to complain that when Mohan used the toilet it stank so much that they feel like throwing up. One of the ways Mohan enjoyed his leisure time was to get dressed in his lungi, sit down on the floor and read his newspaper. His one hand was on the Indian Express and the other five fingers were busy scratching his arse. Palani, his roommate and my friend was so disgusted at this sight, he moved out after a month.

Sinnarkar was not happy with his work. He was looking elsewhere. One day, he announced that he got a job in the middle east. Before saying goodbye to Nasik, he wanted to take a ride around the town and vicinities, visit all the historic places. So we three of us hired a cab which I have seen parked near the Muslim Bakery near my building. Sinnarkar told me he has negotiated the price and it is going to be like Rs. 50 per head. I wanted to sit at the front. But the driver had different plan. He brought a teenager who I think was his side kick.

We saw a couple of places. Then I heard the Satwane and Sinnarkar arguing in Marathi with the driver. I asked the guys what was the problem. Sinnarkar said the man was demanding a lot more money than what he agreed for initially.

I said bravely in English " Say no to him. After all what can he do?"


The car then stopped. I wondered why.

The man got out. Asked the three of us to come out.

And he started speaking fluent English. "just because I was keeping quiet does not mean that you can say anything you want.

I looked at him. He was tall and well built.

Then I noticed the cross hanging from his neck.

Sinnarkar then asked me quietly " what do you say? Shall we start hitting these guys?"
I was shocked. Obviously the idiot although had a degree in civil engineering did not think about the consequences of initiating a physical fight. He was going to leave the town next day leaving me to deal with the police or any backlash from local ruffians.

Being a scrawny Tamil Brahmin, I knew violence is not my cup of tea. The cab wallah would beat me to pulp.

But my Christian school training came in handy. So I told David, the taxi driver "look I see that you are a Christian. Think what Jesus would do. As a Christian you should consider our situation also. You are chaning the rate after agreeing for Rs 150. We can't afford what you are asking now. We don't have more money with us now. I don't like to fight over money."

David cooled down. My appealing to his Christian sensibilities seemed to have some effect.

"I am also not interested in fighting either. But your friends said they wanted to go to three places. Now they want to go some other places. Petrol costs so much money these days. "

Finally we came to some agreement. Gave him Rs. 150 that day, the rest what we owed the next day.

Looks like keeping your mouth shut may save you a whole lot of trouble.

Think what Jesus would do

>>>>He would have said, "Look I have enough problems with the Romans-
don't have the bandwidth for Indians. Besides, what the hell is a taxi anyway? And how is Mohan related to this story?"

Hmm..caste details are all in place. But not a single salacious detail, leave alone the signature rape / molestation / extramarital fling?? This post is hereby dubbed a fake.

Kris wrote:Think what Jesus would do

>>>>He would have said, "Look I have enough problems with the Romans-
don't have the bandwidth for Indians. Besides, what the hell is a taxi anyway? And how is Mohan related to this story?"

have you been paying ATTENSHUNNNN fella?? mohan is what's known as a plot device - to offset the poster's perceived obsession with caste/race and burnish his caste neutral credentials. afterall if you make one of your own look bad, you cant be a castieist.

good story.

"Being a scrawny Tamil Brahmin". What are the other kinds?

Disclaimer: this is not a racist comment. But just trying to understand what's meant by the self-description above. Like my cousin (he's from Rajasthan) once wrote to me, 'And here I was, a seedha saadha marwari in Canada in the month of January...'. As if to allude the simple nature of marwaris overall.

Propagandhi711 wrote:

Kris wrote:Think what Jesus would do

>>>>He would have said, "Look I have enough problems with the Romans-
don't have the bandwidth for Indians. Besides, what the hell is a taxi anyway? And how is Mohan related to this story?"

have you been paying ATTENSHUNNNN fella?? mohan is what's known as a plot device - to offset the poster's perceived obsession with caste/race and burnish his caste neutral credentials. afterall if you make one of your own look bad, you cant be a castieist.

>>>Oh, I get it now. I guess you can add 'slow' now to the adjectives scrawny, pigeon-chested and timid.

Kris wrote:

Propagandhi711 wrote:

Kris wrote:Think what Jesus would do

>>>>He would have said, "Look I have enough problems with the Romans-
don't have the bandwidth for Indians. Besides, what the hell is a taxi anyway? And how is Mohan related to this story?"

have you been paying ATTENSHUNNNN fella?? mohan is what's known as a plot device - to offset the poster's perceived obsession with caste/race and burnish his caste neutral credentials. afterall if you make one of your own look bad, you cant be a castieist.

>>>Oh, I get it now. I guess you can add 'slow' now to the adjectives scrawny, pigeon-chested and timid.

it's ok. not everyone has the insights I have into saraboji's psyche.

Tracy Whitney wrote:good story.

"Being a scrawny Tamil Brahmin". What are the other kinds?

>>>> Erstwhile Playboy subscribers?-- Just hazarding a guess here.

BTW, Mohan was related to the story to highlight the cleanliness of a dalit. The cleanliness itself had no bearing on the taxi story though. But I enjoy reading ironies and such, so I didn't mind.

Kris wrote:

Tracy Whitney wrote:good story.

"Being a scrawny Tamil Brahmin". What are the other kinds?

>>>> Erstwhile Playboy subscribers?-- Just hazarding a guess here.

I presume this kind can be easily identified by the well muscled right forearm?

Propagandhi711 wrote:

Kris wrote:

Tracy Whitney wrote:good story.

"Being a scrawny Tamil Brahmin". What are the other kinds?

>>>> Erstwhile Playboy subscribers?-- Just hazarding a guess here.

I presume this kind can be easily identified by the well muscled right forearm?

>>>David would have thought twice abt taking on this variety. Who'd have thunk? Uncle Hef, the savior of scrawny tambram halfway around the world.