It was probably the Navami night last year (2008 ie). The 9th day of Navratri, and the penultimate for the Durga Puja celebrations. We(Buns, ganguly and moi ) had gone to the puja, we generally go to; The Hyderabad Bangali Samitee. Anyways, it was a pleasant evening/night and my cousin was singing, so that made it all the more fun to be there!
In due course the evening panned and the events that happened were more or less as predicted, only we ended up staying back a li'l longer than we generally do, thanks to Bagchida. Ganguly however retired a li'l after midnight feigning work the next day. Bagchida is a "walking talking bongophile" one of the most entertaining people at least here in hyderabad; An array of anecdotes and loads of imagination along with a strong command over almost everything bangla, sums him up. And that to his credit makes him great company. So we "adda marofied" till around three, and left just about the time the place started looking deserted.
Since it had been raining in the evening and due to various other permutations and combinations, i hadn't come in my bike as usual. (We had set off as 3, and taking the bike was out of the question)
At this point both Bagchida and me were ruing the fact that we would miss the opportunity to drive back home at that time in night/morning. And also fearing the auto drivers' demands, which could touch the sky given the time. Besides Taranaka is not quite a favoured destination for autos in hyd (though i fail to see why). Well after talking to a few auto drivers whose reactions ranged from: simply looked away in reprimand, glared back, thundered 300 bucks, and finally please sit.
So we sat.
We lit cigarettes out of compulsion and went back to chatting, when i first heard the auto driver croon MLTR's "Paint my Love", intrigued we gradually lulled into silence, and as if in understanding of our appreciation the auto driver raised his pitch, and began belting Bryan Adams and Dire Straits (if my memory doesnt fail me). As we asked him about his love for english songs (auto drivers seldom listen to english music leave aside singing it) and he explained that he had a passion for all kinds of music and the silence of the night helped him remeber the english lyrics.
The guy talked about politics: local, national and global, he talked about world peace and as we entered the tranquility of Osmania University asked us to sing a song which he was sure we would know, we agreed to oblige and he asked us to sing "Krishna" by Colonial Cousins. We obliged as promised and came to a halt by the time we had drifted to some other song. The guy took the standard fare: half return as it is called here viz 1and a half times the reading on the metre. As we asked him why he drove an auto when he appeared educated and informed and could easily get a job. He gave us an answer that will perhaps stay forever.
He said "I graduated from Osmania University in 1978 (suggesting that he could have easily had a job as graduates were hard to find then), but i'm a Leo by birth and cannot work under anybody. I own the auto and drive at my free will when i feel like. That way everything i need is more or less fulfilled. He also read newspapers in 3 languages everyday !"
I was amazed at the plain spoken gentleman who spoke the words. It was not rehearsed; it sounded as impromptu as anything else and he left us all thinking about ourselves.
Guess he gave dignity of labour a whole new dimension for me.
