When you mention the word ‘Indian’ pretty much all over the world, the first things that come to ones mind is Bollywood (Mostly Aishwarya Rai, Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan), Curry, The software (IT) brainees, Taj Mahal, Cricket and Taxi Drivers. Yes, you read it right, Taxi Drivers!! And there are many fine examples of this. We have seen the friendly Sadarji cab driver in New York City in Indian movies playing match maker getting the hero and heroine together. We have seen a bearded guy with a turban driving a taxi with Spider Man on top of the roof in his signature stance in the comics, we have seen Mohinder Suresh, one of the lead characters in the American TV series ‘Heroes’ who is a biologist, driving a taxi when he first arrives in New York. Those who have played the game Grand Theft Auto IV have seen and heard the Indian accent of the taxi driver in it. I have seen Indian taxi drivers in the US, London, Dubai, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Singapore, Malaysia and of course India. But lets keep India away from this and focus on the rest of the places. The demographics of the age of these people vary.
Living in a first world country is by no means cheap. For many Indians, driving a taxi is an immediate source of income when they migrate into a new country and continue to do so until they find a proper job. But I am sure there are countless stories and cases where people have ended up driving a taxi for year’s altogether. Indian international students pay about three times the tuition fees than the local citizens in most places including US, UK and Australia. Many of these students hope to get a part time job for surviving, let alone being able to focus on what they are there for, studying!! Looking at it in a different way, who does not like that extra bit of cash??? Let it be clubbing, alcohol, gambling, buying clothes, food, gizmos, whatever!! But the bottom line is, which has recently been lingering and bothering my mind, why drive a taxi out of the many part time jobs available out there most of which don’t even demand u have prior experience??? While reading, keep in mind that most students drive cabs after hours and on weekend’s coz that’s when they are free from University commitments.
There was a recent famous case in Melbourne where a 23 year old Indian IT student was repeatedly stabbed by two men at 2am in the morning in a suburb. There was a massive protest the next day by the Indian cabbies in the city center in Melbourne demanding better security and safety for them after hours especially on weekends. Here is one of the many youtube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36c6NGZQM3c
Today in Adelaide, there was a protest by 50 taxi drivers in the city center lead by an incident 2 nights ago where an Indian taxi driver called Balraj Singh was bashed up by two drunk people who also stole his taxi. The demands were the same, more safety and security after hours and on the weekends.
Source & News link: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/
So let’s get this right. These incidences are related to drunken people who happened to be the passengers of these two cabbies on those ill fated nights. Binge drinking in general and partying on the weekends in Australia is a popular culture and it’s no surprise that these drivers complain of such incidences of assault and torture, not to mention ill treatment and swearing, taking place more often than actually noticed or recorded on the weekends. Getting straight to the point, people claim that Australians are rascist and in general more towards the Indians. I mean, everyone has seen that this year in cricket as well. The Indian team is also known to be criticized by the Australian fans in cricket stadiums in Australia.
What I am about to put forward is very simple and a fact that is often overlooked and its all related to alcohol!! Ever heard of the fact that a drunk person always speaks the truth? Ever heard that pretty much most of the people in the world are rascist in some way or the other including Indians? Ever been scared of an unknown drunk person on the street or in a party? Ever heard that the amount of hatred in the world is increasing by the day for whatever reason that may be? See the point i am getting to?
Being in a state of intoxication brings out the best and the worst of human nature no matter what color you are. Take a new years party in India where people get drunk turning into sleaze bags and getting violent. We all have seen those drunken fights which start off from nothing but ‘Mujhe dhakka kyoon diya? Tujhe pata hai main kaun hoon? (why did u push me? Do u know who I am?)’ or ‘Meri biwi/beti ko kyon cheda? (why did u tease my wife/daughter?)’ Similarly, I am not surprised why these incidences relate to drunken people and those Indian cab drivers who happen to be working on the weekends picking up drunk passengers from clubbing districts. As far as cricket is concerned, beer is legally sold in cricket games in Australia and strictly restricted to the general admission sections whose tickets are of course the cheapest. Why go international when u can find local examples in India? Look at the incidences that took place recently in Bombay where the pro Maharashtrians went on assaulting north Indians and UP, bihari taxi drivers.
Don’t get me wrong here!! I have been fortunate to have known some very good and polished Australian people. But on the other hand there have been several occasions where I felt that I was being treated differently specially at the airports of Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne where I was bomb and drug tested on several occasions in spite of the fact that their machines dint buzz or detect any metal. Add to that London Airport (and I don’t know whether it has anything to do with my beard :S). But I believe that its no way to generalize people and it’s the good and bad that make neutral.
So the question still remains, why do most Indians settle for a taxi driver’s job? I know for a fact that the pay rates are not very fancy, some being as low as $13/hour and that the drivers are paid only 50% of every fare. Australia is a place where employees have their fare share of rights and wages are set to a minimum to avoid exploitation. There are tons of jobs offering salaries like $15-$16/hour and if u are above 21, the chances of you earning $20-$21/hour are quite high!!
In the mean time, I wish the best for all the taxi drivers in Adelaide and around the world and can only hope for better things to come.
Related Article: Melbourne's Taxi drivers are a breathe of fresh air
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/melbournes-taxi-drivers-are-
a-breath-of-fresh-air/2007/02/23/1171734021985.html
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2 comments:
agreed.. really surprising the number of south asian cab drivers in first world countries when there are so many better paying jobs! the only explanation i can think of is.. the number if migrants going to first world countries far outnumbers the temp jobs available at that place.. so either they are not qualified enough for them (quite possible since many of them might not be able to put together a sentence in english) or that the highly paid temping jobs are all taken.. so they seem to be left with no choice but to drive a cab to cover the bills.. again, i could be wrong..
another aspect of indians living outside ive never understood... why is there always a big indian community near the airport!!
Another aspect may be that, u really need to be patient to get a temporary job somewhere once u have applied.. Its also a lot of luck and depends on vacancy if any. Temp jobs also have seasons. Since they are mostly taken by students, there are more vacancies towards the end of the year or holidays when people either quit or are away!!
Living close to the airport i guess: 1. saves the taxi and transport fare to the city or other suburbs 2. creates the possibility of getting a random job at the airport!! Take london airport for instance. U surprisingly find a lot of south asians at Singapore airport too!!
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