The Taxi Talks

When riding a cab, I usually put my phone away, and strike a conversation with the driver. More often than not they strike a good conversation. Once you adjust yourself to their frequency the range of topics and their insight is always baffling. Over the past weekend while visiting Bangalore, I happened to take Ola and Uber twice each. Some of the interesting and important issues that the drivers, all 4 star and above rated, conversed:

Language: The Ola cab driver asked me if I knew Kannada. In my rudimentary Kannada I replied that I knew a little of it. That was it. Appreciative of people making effort to learn the language he expressed his great anger over residents of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, barring Hyderabad, who according to him do not try to speak other common language.

He then went on to describe how in Chennai there is discrimination against those cars bearing KA registration number. Right from obtaining permit at Bangalore, the harassment continues till Chennai. 

Being a Samaritan: The Ola driver narrated how on several occasions he went to houses of passengers to give them back their belongings if they leave it in his car. This was in response to my raising the matter telling how we lost 2 umbrellas in an Ola and no one bothered to follow it up despite calling the drive and the call center.

But he have had bitter experiences when despite his traveling long distance to return valuables, the passenger refused to pay him extra for that part of the ride. Now he doesn't see an incentive in becoming a good Samaritan yet drops the belongings at Ola office.

Car Loan: The other day getting on to a relatively new car when I inquired about it the driver narrated how a small time driver faces harassment while procuring a vehicle of his own. The guy said he got the vehicle costing about 4.7 lakh by paying a downpayment of 1.5 lakh and the rest from Tata finance. Now the problem according to him is, Tata insurance, unlike bank doesn't tolerate delay in payment of EMI and sends goons to threaten or in worst case take away the car. 

Naturally I asked him why couldn't he get a loan from a national bank. The reason he said was that he hailed from Kolar. The bank over there wanted him to bring documents stating that he is purchasing a car. he was denied that document from the showroom in Bangalore, all this leading to his paying an extra 50 thousand as interest money in 3 years.

Reliance: A certain buzz was in Bangalore about Reliance entering cab business; how they claimed a rate of Rs 4 per KM and huge incentives for drivers. That, both the drivers claimed, would change how things currently are in Bangalore. While an auto charges 13 Rs per KM, they weren't sure how the maths would work for Reliance, but they weren't worried about the Maths. For them important thing was that it would help pay the loan back sooner.

Talking to drivers is a very very interesting task. The variety of people they meet, the various places they visit (a common theme always is they proudly telling how far and wide they have driven to), the strata of society they belong to, makes for really interesting topics being discussed. While there are those 'silent types', roughly 80% of drivers I have traveled with are good at making conversation. So, next time, if the driver is game, strike a conversation. A few minutes of not fiddling with the phone can enrich your understanding of issues and people. After all aren't conversations what we are losing to our smartphones?

A Delicious Read

Informative and educative. Two words that describe Chef Saransh Goila’s wonderful book ‘India On My Platter’. Coming from a popular TV show this book generated quite some buzz and rightly so. The journey of 20,000 kilometers that Saransh Goila took discovering India’s food is a commendable exercise. That he brings both recipes and information about both food and the places he visits makes the book an enjoyable read.

The book begins with the author describing in brief the backdrop of this long food journey. After which it is more of a diary where day and place make the chapter heading. Beginning from northern India he has headed to the west then the south and via east, central India, east and north-east India and back to his source, his home in Delhi, on a Diwali night.

India provides for much diversity and as the author has rightly pointed out that a visible change in culture, language, food habits is seen ‘every 100 kilometers’. For me the book works because it provides for interesting details. It is not just a travelogue or a recipe book but the best of both. 

If one wishes to make a journey by road, one can use Saransh Goila’s book as a travel guide. Few information there comes in handy like how the likelihood of getting stuck in traffic on way to Leh is high and thus the ‘Maggi’ shop (wondering what the shop serves after Maggi ban; quite a few Maggi mentions in the book too) at the beginning provides succour. The routes and distances mentioned is minor but very necessary pieces of information. A bit more on pricing/cost would have further helped the readers.

Recipes are provided in couple of ways in the book. On one hand there is detailed recipe, as we are used to seeing and reading them, of what the Chef made in is journey and on the other hand few of them can be found in the descriptive part of the book, like the ‘aate ka halwa’ in a gurudwara. 

The interest of those who are keen on historical aspect of a place is also catered to in the book. However the veracity of a few appeared questionable an example of which is where he describes that a white thread is an uniform for cooks at Krishna Math in Udupi whereas fact is only Brahmins cook the food and the thread is not an attire but a part of them. One miss that I personally did not like was lack of food mention about my home state Odisha despite the author going to Bhubaneswar and mentioning about the dance Odissi.

History of food as described is very educative; like the fundamental difference between a Hyderabadi and Lucknowi biriyani or how elaborate a Kashmiri platter and mannerism is or how spices are kept to a minimum in north-east. For a true foodie, these are information to be cherished. 

Apart then these information the vignettes on shopping comes in handy. There can be observed a hint of spirituality, coming of age feeling in certain parts of the book and that helps connect. On a downside the editing could have been crisper; the narration style is not uniform. ‘Talk to the reader’ approach works for most part if not all. 

Overall, India On My Platter is a wonderful read, for the sheer variety that this lovely country offers and which Saransh Goila has captured beautifully. For the sheer arduous task that he has undertaken, which finds its place in record books now, he needs to be commended. Easy reading, doubling up as travel guide along with a recipe book, handy vignettes, makes the it a delightful and tasteful read.

Insult as Motivation

Our college Annual Day for a batch of MBBS and BDS students was held day before yesterday. The outstanding achiever, winner of several awards including the gold medal, as the custom demands spoke to the audience. She narrated a story which went something like this: About 7 years back she never thought of medicine as a career option. She wanted to be a businesswoman to help her not so well-off family. But then she met someone who told her that she should not be thinking of medicine since she won’t be able to afford it. It would be out of her reach. She felt insulted and bad by it and that was the turning point for her. She decided that she would do it and with support from family and friends. Today she was there, right up there as the outstanding achiever of her batch.

Today morning I happened to read on twitter someone having written on a saying ‘Insult is just a rude way of inspiring’. The narrator went on to describe incidences in life where she has been able to do well in her corporate career because of putting up a brave face and earning the determination to do well in response to insults thrown at her by her superiors in office. 

What is our reaction, our thought when we hear such a thing? Let us largely divide reactions of people in three categories. The first set believes in the fact that whatever be the performance or lack of it of someone, insult is a total no-no. It affects the psychology of an individual in a negative way. Insult can drive people to depression, anger, hyper or hypo activity and is akin to a crime.

Another set of people would believe that the ill lies with the person causing the insult and has no bearing on the one getting insulted. Thus the person facing the insult should take it as a challenge, as a motivation and perform to give a fitting reply. Thereby, believing in the adage that insult is a rude way of inspiring and that without it sometimes, without that rude jerk, that vigorous shaking, performance is not enhanced.

The last category of people would believe that one cannot do away with insult largely. Be it any workplace, at home, there are certain people who inflict insult as a way of expressing their anger. Therefore though undesirable it cannot be avoided. 

Whatever the belief be, we gain inspiration and motivation from a myriad of ways. People have been inspired by a humble bee, by mountains, by books. Great men and women have achieved greatness in the path of proving someone wrong equally as proving themselves right.

Yes an insult hurts the ego and either it buckles up for the fight or gets down and out or a few other possibilities in between occurs. There is no ideal way of targeting the insult. A few days back this author had written on the role of teacher as portrayed in the movie Whiplash (http://sambitspeak.blogspot.in/2015/04/whiplashing-teacher.html), where insult has been an extreme weapon to motivate. While anecdotal evidence suggests, as narrated in the beginning, its success, the risks, more often than, not outweigh the pros.

And as for the student who we undoubtedly believe will excel as a doctor, who knows, what kind of a successful businesswoman she could have been. Not that she still cannot be.