Life Lessons in an Uber
One thing I really love about where I live is that it never fails to remind me about how lucky I am. It’s not just the existence of extreme poverty that makes me realize this because this level of abjection exists in many places other than Bombay but it’s something different, something intangible. When I moved to Bombay I wrote a piece about how I immediately connected with the energy in this city from the moment I landed and watched as a man and his wife drove in a scooter and sidecar ahead of my taxi as I left the airport. Having moved around quite a bit, that is every 3–4 years for my entire life, I think I may have gotten a knack for figuring out where I may like to live and where I wouldn’t. It’s not uncommon for me to sum up my travels to a new city with the sentence, “I can totally picture living there”.
The one thing that I’ve noticed singularly in Bombay is a sense of joy. A sense of complacent joy that goes beyond money, class and distinction. It is interesting to see that those who are less fortunate tend to have a much bigger sense of humility and gratitude than those of us who are blessed with everything we could ever want. I was in an Uber the other day on my way to the airport. I heard that there was going to be terrible traffic and was prepared for the worst. We got lucky and Google Maps led my driver and I through back roads that had me within 2km of the airport in only 45 minutes (I expected this to take at least an hour). It was at the point that the driver took a turn which I told him wasn’t the right way, he said it was and within a second of turning realized he was wrong. Being the calm, mindful person that I am, immediately started yelling about how I would now miss my flight. The driver kept cool and started reversing back through the turn (obviously incredibly illegal but he got the job done).
Once we were safely back en route he turned and smiled and apologized, he had thought that the turn was actually one that we did have to take much further up ahead. He told me that no matter what, he would get me to the airport on time and that I shouldn’t worry and leave everything to him. As we got to chatting he mentioned that in this kind of traffic, his ankles would start hurting from pressing down on the clutch and brake so often and that he drove between 18 and 19 hours a day. I told him to put some ice on his feet when he got home to which he replied, “but where will I find ice so late at night?” I was silenced. He then went on to laugh and say that he didn’t mind me getting angry earlier because if he makes a mistake he is more than happy to bear the blame, that too with a smile. “Everyone makes mistakes, as long as I fix it! Even if it’s not my mistake, I‘ll still take the abuse with a smile”.
He then told me how lucky I was to be able to travel and I just thought about how something that is completely out of our control, like the family you are born in to, is the biggest determinator of what your life will be. I tried to tip him all the cash I had, which was about 70 cents and he vehemently objected. Before I walked towards the airport he smiled and ask me again if I was angry about the delay and I laughed. This conversation has stayed with me for over a week now and it still makes me smile. It’s amazing what we can learn from those who we would never think to listen to.
