The Taxi Driver

“ Churchgate", I said.

He dumped my luggage into the boot space and went to the driver’s seat.

He was a man probably in his late 50s, seemed like a person who hardy opened his mouth, so unlike many drivers who start blabbering the moment you step in the taxi. A tall man, with some hairs white, though they were mostly covered by a cap, rather a hat. His face wasn’t visible, especially in the dim light little after sunset.

But fifteen minutes in the journey which would take probably an hour, his baritone voice started talking. He was quite amazed by the level of ignorance I had about Mumbai. I told him that I belong to a small town near Allahabad. He also belonged to Allahabad. And then came numerous discussions from government policies to sports to Indian economics. He revealed that he left his hometown in his 20s and is has been a long since then. He had a daughter who was married and a son who would be getting married shortly. However, I didn’t go deep into his personal life as I thought he might not like it, and also it might appear that I was making fun of his not so affluent life. Though I came to know that he and his son were both in same profession, and even his wife and his daughter in law were in same profession. I smiled that the family with everyone a taxi driver. Though I had never seen a female taxi driver, I knew that times were changing. He seemed to know about all the topics under the sun. But one field he seemed to be expert was Bollywood.

Meanwhile he carefully negotiated the traffic, following every traffic rule which were often unheard of in my part of country. But he revealed that he cannot afford to break any of the rules.

Meanwhile we continued our discussion on Bollywood, which later turned out to be a monologue as he was way too knowledgeable than me. I gave some of my comment about likes and dislikes. I showered praise on modern breed of actors like Hritik Roshan, John Abraham and dislike for the likes of Abhishek Bacchan. I thought that he is there just because he got way too many opportunities as he was son of Amitabh Bacchan. In fact I added that I didn’t like Aishwarya Rai and couldn’t understand why she is so much overhyped. I conceded that she didn’t look as hot in Dhoom 2 as she was made out to be. He seemed to disagree and changed the topic, as we didn’t seem to agree.

Meanwhile, after an hour of ride in heavy traffic, I reached my place. I took out my luggage and I paid him. But he didn’t seem to come out of taxi. The reason he gave was that he would be surrounded by people.

“What a jerk” I thought.

But few seconds later I got a glimpse of his face for the first time. I was nothing less than stunned, and somewhat embarrassed. I stared at him with a open mouth till he spoke.

“I was preparing for a movie in which I am playing role of a taxi driver, and what better than experiencing it firsthand”

“But …”

Before I could complete, Big B drove away, and I was still wondering if it was a dream or something.