NaBloPoMo 2018: Day 19: Weird logic from a cabbie

Last week, my aged parents, who had come over for a short visit, were returning home with my sister. A little after they had left, my sister told the cabbie to drive carefully and slowly because both parents have low back pain and sudden jerks must be avoided. There was no response from him.

Noticing that he had plugged in his earphones, and assuming he may not have heard her, she tapped him on the shoulder, indicated he should remove the earplugs, and repeated her request. He got irritated and grumbled something. A little while later, he again inserted his earphones.

Don't talk - fine; what about listening to music?

My sister again politely asked him to remove them, saying that she wanted him to be alert to any instruction that she may want to give.

At this, the cabbie rudely told her, “What, Madam, you people are so educated, and doing so much pooja-paath, you should not be afraid of dying” !!!

He’d probably assumed the pooja-paath bit from seeing the Thiruman Srichurnam (tilak) on my father’s forehead. That’s beside the point. What a shocking statement to make! We all know we’re going to die someday – but that doesn’t mean we walk in the middle of the road, does it?

To this, my sister told him, “Us doing pooja-paath or being afraid of dying or not isn't the matter here. Hasn’t Krishna also told in the Bhagavad Geeta that everyone should do their duty in the best way possible?”

As they went further, my sister suggested that he avoid a particular road because it was uneven and would be uncomfortable for my parents. Rudely, he said he couldn’t do that – that he must follow the GPRS route only, and drove on roughly.

When they finally reached home, he kept showing his irritation and impatience at the fact that it took a few minutes to get my parents out of the cab, and ready to walk using their walker and walking stick.

While traveling with our parents before, we have often experienced that cab drivers themselves volunteer to help them get in and out of the vehicle, suggesting the seat be eased back or front, and doing what they can to make their drive comfortable. When it’s only one of us daughters traveling with both parents, we’ve even had some drivers offer to help with the luggage. That’s very nice of them, and although we don’t expect/order them to help, it feels good when they do. Even if they don’t help with all this, the very least someone can do is wait patiently.

My sister did raise a complaint with the cab aggregator, but she hasn’t had the time to pursue it further. You see, being a physician, she’s too busy saving lives and assuaging the anxiety of those who’re scared of their loving ones dying.