A Goad Recital

It was yet another late night, I boarded the cab. The cab had a nice ambience and was well maintained. I shared the route details with the driver. The engine revved up and I laid back gazing at the clear skies. After moving few stretches, a bunch of flag key chain souvenirs hanging from the rear view mirror caught my attention, benightedly asked the driver “Where did you pick these?”. He replied pointing at each key chain “Sir, Bangkok(2011), Kuala Lumpur(2012), Singapore(2013) and Colombo(2014)”. He sensed my unwillingness to buy it and began to unwind his treacherous journey.

Born in a rural family whose only source of income was agriculture, the driver was the eldest of six children. Being playful and disinterested in studies, he disencumbered from the high school. In the next few years, he hustled in paddy and wheat fields and lost his dad. The unreliable rains led to aggravating family needs and to quench those responsibilities he drifted to urban area.

He set his stride in the new city being adrift and uncanny. Money he brought could earn only four to five days of meals and with no shelter, he slept inside a train station. Uncovering a job was a big ordeal, being an outsider, he failed to certitude his motive and he was either rejected calmly or battered and abused. Every failure to fetch a job made him brawny and embraced the actuality. He frayed but eventually on the day three, he began unloading trucks at a conveyor. He worked for longer hours to secure more money and continued to sleep inside the warehouse. It was just enough to feed him thrice in a day. His incessant perseverance and droll stance didn’t go unnoticed. After few months, the superior at the cargo referred him to a building construction contractor, which landed him a mason job. His shrewdness to grow was apparent, the flair to learn new skills with ease; summoned him with new prospects in construction site. He rented a room and saved small amount of cash everyday. After four months, at last he consigned the saved money to his family.

His skills to negotiate, assiduity, credence and a good sense of humour fetched him subtle identification. He was later hired by a garage owner to oversee the business. His proficiency in handling paltry issues inside the garage was quite imposing. At the garage, interaction with customers made him erudite, inundating ideas in sundry subjects. He spent his additional time reading books which metamorphosed him from crude to polished essence. After spending three years at the garage, he borrowed money and bought a taxi. It was the dawn of IT sector and made a stunning business. In another eight years, he had ten cabs in the city. He became affluent and has initiated many social services at his home town. He promulgates the significance of education and family. Now, at his early 40's, he owns few opulent cars, which are rented by celebrities and has some twenty city cabs. He still drives cab for few hours everyday, for the only reason of enriching his awareness and rediscovering himself. He is unmarried and has a mission to visit as many places as possible across the globe.

I got down from the cab and realized what had happened in the last 30 minutes was really motivating. The determination, eagerness, visionary, humbleness and wit could transform a stone to marvellous statue. It made me realize how seemingly inexorable it was to give back to the society. Prioritizing and respecting every individual could earn a better destiny. Learning and rediscovering oneself are really important and it must never end.