Monday, July 02, 2007

Day in 3 Cabs


Well today we've had a nice weather with cool breeze, warm sun and partly cloudy skies. Lovely!
2:30 pm: I hop into a cab driven by a man way into his 60s. This turned out to be a ride full of relaxation as well as sense of sarcasm. Half into our ride, he asked me whether I minded having the radio on or not, to which I responded negatively. As he turned it on, it was none other than the tenor, Luciano Pavarotti. The old man smirked and said, this is my rap. We continued listening to Pavarotti, followed by Mozart's Requiem, of which I was told by this highly educated man was completed posthumously by another composer, whose name I cannot recall now. Later, my mind was assuaged by Beethoven's lunar sonata.

6:00 pm: I take another cab for another 30 minute ride. Unlike the earlier one, this cab was more than ordinary. Quiet in the start and later noisy because of a loud babble of Urdu to bring my ataraxic state of mind into an end. The disturbing and moreover loud rattling with his buddy, or buddette, on the other side of the phone, carried on until I was dropped half a block away from where I specifically requested. Therefore, NO TIP given.

10:20 pm: My 3rd and last cab of the day. Most interesting though. The driver was a Muslim guy, later on and from the accent I concluded that he was Egyptian. Reticently driving, he decided to talk in the final minutes to my place. I was told that the number of cabis is going to plummet after November. Attempting to understand the reason for such an orphan comment, he turned the light on and passed me a pamphlet. I glanced at it and looking at his visor I saw a huge button "NO GPS". Unhappy with the process of installing a digital dispatch by NYC TLC, he expressed his concern of being monitored by Uncle Sam. According to him, its been implemented to track Muslims and Arabs, the majority of cabis.

No comments: