The Cab Driver

The entire flight she had her earphones stuck with her ears. She didn't want to speak with the old lady beside her. She kept ignoring her even while eating.

As a business class passenger, she could order non-vegetarian food unlike those in economy class who had only vegetarian food for themselves.

For lunch, Ria got herself fried chicken. In addition to it, she also took a hot chocolate coffee for herself. She paused the music but continued to eat with her earphones attached.

"Chicken! You are eating a creature that was killed. You should eat vegetables."

'I cannot believe that I am stuck with this woman here! She is worse than Aunt Anita.'

Ria calmly removed her earphone and looked at her disgusted.

"Plants have life. They breathe too and give oxygen to us. Just because they don't have a mouth, ear or nose, that doesn't mean that they are not living. I think you should just drink water to live if you are all about not eating any living creature."

Before the lady could say anything, she put her earphones back into her ears and continued to eat.

The Old lady was finally quiet. After lunch, Ria closed her eyes and slept peacefully. For dinner, Ria had potato curry with rice. She took orange juice along with it.

A few hours later, the woman beside her started talking again but Ria ignored her as she continued to fill her quarantine questionnaire form.

After seventeen hours and twenty-one minutes, Ria and other passengers finally reached Mumbai.

All the passengers submitted their quarantine questionnaire and stood in a queue for the immigration counter. Ria tried her best to stay in another queue but the old lady kept following her wherever she went. She noticed another middle-aged woman with a baby, accompanying her now. It was the same woman on the flight whose baby was crying.

"Are any of your relatives here?" The old lady kept asking Ria.

"Mother, can't you see she doesn't seem to like you. She isn't talking to you. I had to make you sit beside her because of my son. He was crying almost all the time or else I would have never made you sit beside a girl like her." said the woman beside the old lady.

The man who was at the counter moved to the baggage claim centre. Ria sighed as she walked towards the counter.

"Purpose of visit?" asked the man at the counter.

"Educational."

"Oh! What will you be studying?"

"Mbbs."

"They all come here for this degree but no one stays. Even among locals, study Mbbs in India and then go outside for a job. If this goes on, we will end up with fewer doctors."

"Maybe, the modern educated people want a break from old traditional people who love patriarchy," said Ria as she gave him her passport and tickets.

"Does that mean that such people should not receive healthcare from an expert? How will they change their mindset if you just leave them like this? It is so sad that we produce the best doctors but they don't stay. Young people from even other professions want to leave their elders and go out to other countries."

Ria couldn't reply to him. The man checked her passport and put a stamp on one of the pages. He gave it back to her along with her tickets. Ria quickly moved with her suitcase and handbag to the arrival section.

Ria went to the money exchange counter and got herself ten thousand rupees. She then went around checking for cab drivers. There were two counters for it. One counter was arranged by the government which had drivers for small white cars. The other one was private and the condition of cars was much better. It also had an air conditioner which was not present in the government arranged cabs.

Ria immediately stood in a queue for the private counter. A few minutes later somebody tapped on her shoulder. Ria turned and looked behind. To her shock, it was the same old lady who sat beside her.

"Where will you be going?" asked the lady.

'This woman! If I stay here and go to the counter, she will hear my address. Argh! Now I will have to take those old cabs for myself.' thought Ria as she slowly moved out and walked towards the other counter.

To Ria's shock, the queue for this counter was much more than the other. She had to stand for nearly an hour to get to the counter.

"Address?"

"I am new here so I had written it down before travelling," said Ria as she removed a paper from inside her handbag.

"Ah in Juhu, won't take much time. You have to pay three hundred rupees."

"WHAT?? Why three hundred if it won't take much time?"

"There will be traffic."

"That is almost everywhere on earth. Who charges like this extra for traffic?"

"If you don't want our services, you can go to the other counter where you have to pay more. NEXT!"

"OKAY! Fine. I will pay you."

"Cab number is five. All are lined behind this counter. The driver is Mahesh. Show him this receipt and he will drop you at the correct place."

'Slimy git with oily hair! Seriously this is how government arranged local cabs work?'

Ria went past the counter and soon found her cab. The driver was a middle-aged man, sleeping in the back with one leg out of the window. Ria looked disgusted at the drooling driver. She hit his leg with her handbag.

The driver got up slowly and looked at her. Ria shoved the receipt in his face. He looked at the receipt and got out of the car.

"First time in Mumbai?" he asked.

"Why are asking me that?" asked Ria.

"Don't have much work here Madam. We are paid very little. So we ask them if they need anyone as a guide. My duty is for the morning here. There are other drivers for evening and night duty. I can show you the city in the evening."

"I am not a tourist," said Ria as she opened the car's door to put her suitcase inside. Ria soon realized that she was too tired to even lift her suitcase. She turned to ask the driver for help but he was already busy with his cellphone.

"Excuse me, I need your help here."

"What help?"

"I am too tired to put this suitcase inside."

"Pay me thirty rupees and I will help you."

"What?"

"I will put that suitcase inside only if you pay me. It already looks very heavy to me."

"Excuse me! There is nothing but clothes in my bag."

"That's the story of many ladies. Thirty rupees or no help."

"Fine!"

'How mean!'

The driver lifted the suitcase and pushed it on the seat beside Ria. He spitted on the ground as he closed the car's door. Ria looked at him shocked.

'Absolutely disgusting!'

"Madam, please keep your window open. There is no air conditioner in the car. You may feel hot." said the driver.

"Okay," replied Ria.

"One more request Madam."

"What?"

"On the way, I need to pay fees for my daughter. It will only take only five minutes. Can you wait in the car?"

"Alright."

The driver started the engine and Ria looked out of the window as the car moved.

She had never visited India in her entire life. Her paternal grandparents would regularly visit her during vacations in her primary school but now they were no longer alive. Five years back, they died in a car accident while travelling to Washington. Her maternal grandparents had visited her only twice and she was now going to live with them.

As she looked outside, she realised that the area near the airport had lots of trees and plants. As they moved ahead, she saw fewer plants and trees. All she could see now was buses, cars and bikes. She could hear loud horns from every vehicle every two seconds.

The driver stopped the car in front of a small school in a corner. Ria quietly looked out of the window. A man was selling some kind of snack in a stall beside the car. A group of young girls surrounded this stall and were eating together. A young man in old dirty clothes was sitting in a corner in front of the school and selling balloons.

After nearly fifteen minutes, the driver came back. Ria kept looking outside as a handsome young man suddenly went past the car. He was wearing shorts and a tight t-shirt. Ria almost drooled as she looked at his muscles but the driver began to drive and Ria couldn't look at the man any longer. She turned back and looked at the driver with a very grumpy face.

"Madam, these are models and actors. There is a beach nearby. They come here almost every day for jogging. If you come again here any day, you will see him again."

The rest of the journey went quietly. After ten minutes, they passed Juhu beach. The driver turned the car and they went inside a street. He stopped it in front of a tall building.

"Madam, this is your destination, Shivay Vihar."

He started the car as soon as she removed her suitcase and handbag.

"Hey!" called out Ria but the driver left her alone in front of the building.

'I don't know if there is an elevator. How will I take this suitcase up if there is no elevator?"

Ria somehow managed to get her suitcase through the front stairs. She looked around as she got inside. A woman sat in the corner right opposite her. She was busy writing something in a long notebook. There was no elevator in front of her and all Ria could see were rooms with a couple of doors opened. She could see two girls in the nearest room watching something on their laptop.

Ria approached the woman who sat opposite her.

"Umm hello?"

"Oh did you come here for a room? I am so sorry but there isn't a place for you."

"I didn't come here for any room. I came here to stay with my grandparents."

"Oh dear, we don't keep any old couple here. All our girls are either working or studying."

"Isn't this shivay vihar?"

"No, this is a girl's hostel. Didn't you look at the board outside?"

Ria quickly got out and checked the building again. Right near the entrance of the building was a small board that read 'Mahima Girls Hostel.'

She ran inside again and opened her handbag for the address.

"The driver told me that this was the address."

"Oh no, this happens very often here. Check your money first. They usually steal money and leave customers some other place."

Ria looked for her money and realised that she lost not just her money but also her expensive apple iPhone.

'How could such a thing happen with me? Argh! He must have done this when I was looking out of the window. What should I do now?'