Stories from my conversation with Cab Drivers: A lost African Tribe in India

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..

Stories from my conversation with Cab Drivers: A Sri Lankan Refugee

A tale of Sri Lankan Refugee

During my trip to London, I ordered a Lyft from Terminal 2 (Queens Terminal) and had been allocated this gentleman. When I sat in the cab, we started having a conversation. We exchanged notes from where each one of us was from. He did say that he is from SriLanka. Then my curiosity sparked, and I asked how long have you been in the UK. He then got excited to tell his story. He did mention that he was in Mumbai for a couple of months before he got on a flight outside the country. His first pit stop was to be Paris (France), his agent had mentioned to him that before they land, he needs to visit the restroom and tear the passport and flush it in the toilet. Whattt….

Anyways, he was scared to do that and he didn’t end up tearing the passport. Apparently, when a Sri Lankan lands in Paris, he can claim that he doesn’t have any documents and claim refugee status. However since he did have the passport, his final destination was a place in Africa, he was shipped to the African continent. When he landed there, he didn’t speak french and went to a cab stop. A good samaritan cab driver found him and took him to a nearby hotel. There a lady (whom he later said that she was like his mother), who took him in and took care of him. He worked with the lady for about 3 years, and one of his guests who arrived at the leg end of the three years asked him what he was doing. He recited his story and mentioned that he wanted to go to UK, however, what happened to him in Paris. Apparently the guest was on a honeymoon and mentioned that he used to work in Dubai, UAE at a hotel. The owner of that hotel in UAE was a Sri Lankan, who had ensured that his (the guest) job is always safe even through the recession. The guest told my cab driver that since you are a Sri Lankan, I would sponsor your trip to London. So now this time, he did not commit the same mistake and before he landed in the UK, he tore his passport and flushed it. When he approached the immigration, he claimed no documents and was given a refugee status with a work permit in six months within the UK.

So my inquisitiveness grew and I asked him where did he stay and survive for 6 months before he could actually work. He then proudly said, that today in the UK there are approximately more than 500k Sri Lankans with uncles, aunties, and friends who are helpful and also took care of him. Then I asked him, how much did he pay initially and what does it take to come to the UK from Sri Lankan. Apparently the agents used to take 22 years ago 30,000 Pounds and now it has gone up to 50,000 Pounds.

There were many other topics we spoke off, about the politics in SriLanka, his perspective on Brexit and many other things. One of the other interesting facts he mentioned that many Indians who are Tamilians are also adopting the same path of claiming that they are Sri Lankans. Since many international destinations do not know the difference between Indian and Sri Lankans. Only a Sri Lankan or Indian knows the difference by the minute differences in the dialect.

At then he did say, that over the years he has been blessed to be helped by many people and he is really thankful to them. With a sense of gratitude, today he tries to do the same and help anyone whom he comes across who needs help and do whatever it takes in his capacity to help.

When he dropped me, I was astonished, happy, and anxious at the same time.

I would continue to add to the stories series. If you have come across an interesting story from your experience speaking to a cab driver, please do share. Chao..