Hats off to you Sir!

Chicago has a very high number of taxi drivers from the subcontinent. In fact we met a Mr. Nathani from Ahmedabad who s been driving taxis in Chicago for 29 years and has a perfect American accent. However this piece is dedicated to someone else.

The story happened during a short taxi ride from Wrigleys building to John Hancock Building in downtown Chicago. It was very cold and 5 shivering Indians got into the taxi of Mr. Abdul Benaras Khan. Mr. Khan realizing that we were Indians started talking to us in Hindi and upon our enquiry told us he s from Pakistan. He immediately launched into a tirade against politicians for constantly wanting to keep the countries at war, and especially the Biritish blaming them for partition. In fact we got into a rather interesting discussion on what would happen if the two cricket teams were to be playing together (Gavaskar/Miandad; Kapil/Imran etc. etc.).

We were fairly convinced that he wanted to sweet talk us into tipping more than the customary 15% especially with the ride being so short. Stupid and prejudied that we are was given a deserving slap on the face when on disembarking, forget the tip he refused the basic fare itself saying "Aap mere beta ho" and "staying away from the country I can do just this little to ensure that our relationships improve"

Hats off to you Sir!