A tale of an individual from a lost African tribe in India
I have always maintained that India is a diverse land of culture, languages, religions, caste. Over the years, India, with open arms, welcomed individuals from different parts of the world. The statement got further stemmed when I met this interesting individual during one of my return trips, and when I ordered took a local cab at Mumbai International Airport, Terminal 2.
Travel tip: If you land at Mumbai International Airport (Terminal 2) - Don't take Ola or Uber services, go and take the local Taxi service. They are more reliable, quick and also has a variety of options (A/C, Non-A/C and Women only Cabs)
My ritual when I sit in the cab is to ask the cab driver how is it going? When did they start their day? Be prepared, that sometimes you would not get an answer, and I have experienced that due to whatever reasons, the individual has chosen to give a curt response or ignore.
So this trip and day would not have been different, and as soon as I settled down, I asked my key question. He mentioned to me that he had started his day at 10 pm (I had landed at 11 pm on an International flight) and would continue till 5 or 6 am. He went to mention that he is a widower, with sons working and he wants to remain independent and working. Without prompting, he said that he is 72 years old.
Post this brief talk, I was confident that he is open for a conversation, and then I asked him where is he from? He asked me straight up, why did I ask that? I was a little taken aback and felt that I probably offended him in asking that question. After a few seconds of pause, I asked him did I offend him, and the answer from his side was 'No'. He quickly smiled and said that he is an African. At this time, I was astonished, silent, and all sorts of thoughts started running in my head. He smiled again, don't worry, I am very much a legal citizen and born in India. He said that the very less known fact in India is that there has been a small African community of sixty thousand plus individuals living in India, known as Siddi. In the early years, this community had settled and created their habitat in the southern part of India, however with urbanization, it dispersed the majority of them across India. He said that his wife was a Gujarati, and his children have each chosen religion of their choice rather than enforcing something on them.
My ride home from Mumbai International Airport (Terminal 2) is not more than 25 minutes, so I was nearing the end of the conversation. Before I could reach home, I asked him, so how does it feel to be in India? The answer he gave made me feel proud, humbled, and beaming with a smile, his response - "I am a legal and proud citizen of India with an African origin."
He made my day, and I wanted to spend more time and have a conversation with a friendly and fantastic individual. However, to my dismay, my trip ended and had to say 'Goodbye' to him.
I continue to have such conversations and like to take notes from such exciting interviews with the cab drivers. I look forward to sharing them with you more in my future blog post. Chao..