Friday, August 8, 2014

Conversation with a Father

I tend to get started talking with the drivers of the auto rickshaw I commute on. I am in no way a small talker, not an extrovert. People who know me will nod their head. But sometimes; I just get started. Most of these rickshaw guys are the ones who come from other towns and villages and make a living in Bangalore. A good number of them are already prosperous and they just do this since its an easy way to earn money fleecing customers who dont speak the local language.

And I; for whatever reason dont look like one who can speak the language well. Maybe the way I dress, carry myself or whatever; I get talked to in Hindi. In fact; I have to ask them "Do you speak Kannada?" If I get the chance, I do start a conversation with them simply because it makes them feel good that there are folks who speak their language.

Two reasons for that belief. 1 - If you are a local; you dont hire auto. You take the more conventional mode of transport because you know the city well. If you take auto; thats because you dont know the language and dont want to be burdened with finding routes and asking people. You get taken for a ride; literally.

Anyway, last evening on my way to home from office; this elderly man started cribbing about the longer route I was insisting him to take. I ignored at first. He kept repeating it and that was when I had to interrupt and clarify that the route he was suggesting was 2 kms longer. That I didnt mind paying extra couple of tens; but that route has traffic standing still. Whereas the present route though seems longer, its shorter and the traffic keeps moving. He still insisted on his theory and that there was this extra U turn in my way and thats why its longer.

Well, the conversation moved on with more proofs and statistics and numbers from my side and his. He  further strengthened his argument with being a local of that area for 34 years. Whereas I; said that I commute everyday and I have always found which route was better. This guy got comfortable by then. He told me about his early days - truck driver.

His children are now married; living a decent life. His eldest did masters but having his own business. His daughter also having done masters working in a bank. His son in law working in a bank as well. How his children insist him not to work; but he cant sit at home.

Throughout; I could make out the pride of a father - children having a good life. There got to a point where he was trying to portray his daughter was earning best and living best. Now I dont know why he got to even compare - with me that is. Yeah lot of auto drivers do that. The truth is; they really want to earn "like" the way computer folks earn. But knowing they dont have the chance, they make it sound like a sour grapes story.

He told me how much his daughter was earning. How she was the first to be promoted and all that. Fine! He then asked me my salary. Gasp! I did tell what it was (well; I was honest). He again asked me - is it after all the cut? What you get in hand? I said that the cut was bad; tax and all that but yes thats how much I get in my hand. Well; lets say that the number I quoted was twice as what he said his daughter was earning.

Immediately; his sour grapes strategy kicked in. He said  that her daughter was also called in for job at IBM. Well people; non IT parents generation generally know Infosys and IBM. These are the greatest companies and if you are IT and dont work in one of them; you are good for nothing. Getting back to our beloved father; they decided against her working for an IT company though the salary was good for a fresher; because they demanded his daughter work night shifts.

Now; the salary he said they offered was bull shit people! I know the trends. He went on to say how her work now is good; timings good; how she gets picked up and dropped home. Now that they have a 5 upstairs building right in the heart of the city. Basically he was justifying all the reasons for not accepting the IT offer. I did laud him for taking the right decision and fed his ego a bit. But what I found amusing was this stranger was so passionate about his family and kids. He was ready to go to any length to prove his kids were the best :-)

I hope his children know how blessed they are.

16 comments:

  1. Hehe! Children are the pride of their parents. As far as my father goes, he won't do/try all this.
    For him, just knowing that we are well off is the best feeling. :)

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    Replies
    1. Its no fault at all Enigma. He was such a content father. It was nice to hear him

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  2. Fascinating. BTW what did he charge you?
    Good that you left him savour his pride in his daughter

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    1. Anil, the charge on the meter only. 130/-
      Yeah; it was right thing to do. I was wondering how many parents would do that

      Delete
  3. Interesting thing you do...pickup light conversations with the auto guys. I'm not an auto person, the one or two times that I've taken a ride, the conversation or instruction rather, was limited to giving the destination and asking the fare! And good thing you did at the end..."feeding his ego" for whatever it's worth. At least for him to tide over the "sour grapes" feeling :)

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    Replies
    1. RGB,

      Haha sometimes its nice. I do it once in a while. Yes, he would have departed a happy man :)

      Delete
  4. Every father, almost every father is proud of their kids. Whenever my wife praises about any other kids, I always tell her “You are right. But our R and J are much better than them”.

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    1. SG,

      No harm at all. I found this amusing because there was no reason for him to compare his daughter's success with mine :)

      Delete
  5. Something similar happened to me in Riyadh. My company in USA sent me there. I was not only getting my American salary plus a huge allowance for working in a “hardship” country. I happened to take a taxi once. The taxi driver was a Tamil guy. We both started talking. He assumed I am also coming from India to work in Saudi. He asked me “I assume since you are working in an office, you must be getting good salary. How much is your monthly salary? 2000 riyal? (2000 riyal = Rs.33,000 = $540). I said: You are correct. My salary is just that. You guessed it correctly.

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    1. :) Haa yeah people get happy if their guesses are right :)

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  6. Some conversations are sure interesting!

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  7. Nothing can make parents more proud than their children doing well.
    I would even give him credit for continuing with his auto,despite his children having been settled so well

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    Replies
    1. True; the fact that he didnt still at home was really inspiring to me

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  8. I completely agree with the 1st two para...
    Typical Bangalore attitude... I dont understand why people dont initiate conversations in Kannada...

    And a pretty good incident... I had experienced a similar one too.. Some time before...

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    Replies
    1. :-) Yeah I dont understand it. Probably they really dont know Kannada; its easy here in Bangalore. Everyone speaks multiple languages; you can really survive without having to know Kannada

      Im curious; hope you'll write about your incident sometime

      Delete

I'd love to know what you thought :-) Please shoot!