Journeys in taxis

         After a long time of four months in Germany I was eagerly waiting to go back to India. This was my third visit to Germany in the last nine months. Germany is an economic and Industrial powerhouse of Europe. Almost everything is in order in Germany. But I love being in India as the life here is more challenging, buzzing and sometimes even chaotic with many uncertainties. As usual the taxi to Stuttgart railway station was a Mercedes Benz and it was on time. I love talking to taxi drivers. As per me they are one of the most aware, sensible people around and also talk a lot of sense. On enquiry my taxi driver told me he comes from Sudan. I didn’t know much about Sudan except some bad press this country gets occasionally in the media. The surprising thing for me was he spoke good English. He told me Sudan is a country which had influence of both African and Arabian culture. He too had a mix of African and Arabic features.

Then we discussed the history and lifestyles of people in Germany, Europe, Africa and Arabia. What amazed me was his thorough understanding of world history and current affairs. He elaborated to me about the current economic crisis in Europe and its root cause and repercussions .He told me that he was a Muslim. North Africa has more Muslims because of the Arabic influence and South of Africa is more Christian dominated due to European occupation for some years in the last century. He was aware that Bangalore is known as Silicon Valley of India. I asked him why he was so much interested in history and he answered to me that “If one doesn’t know one’s history then one ends up reliving it”. What it means is one should know the bad and good part of history .We should always learn from history and not repeat the past mistakes. Morning 1 am I reached Bangalore after a long fight of over eight hours.

Again my taxi driver was a Muslim. He was driving a Toyota Etios. I asked him about the performance of the vehicle and what are his expectations from the car. I always take feedback about vehicles from drivers as they are the best people to give correct feedback. He told me he was very happy with the vehicle as it had a good engine and high fuel economy. He said he felt Etios was better for him compared to other vehicles in the taxi segment. As per him Etios was good for him as its engine has very high reliability, low vibration and low steering effort. The driving comfort was better and it was less tiring for him to drive an Etios. I personally felt the Interiors of Etios was not very appealing and needed improvement .Then I asked him about the present government in Bangalore and the upcoming Lok Shaba elections. He has a strong view about the outcome of elections and is very well versed with the polity of the country. He said the divisive politics was dangerous for the unity of the country. God has created only two variants of human’s men and women. It is only people who divide people into different castes and religions. He informed me as it was the holy month of Ramadan and he does fasting for seventeen hours in a day. He fondly told me that many of his friends are Hindus and some of them cook for him early in the morning before the time for fasting starts.