If the elites in India and abroad are anything to go by, the Uber/Ola drivers know the pulse of the nation like no other. Because somehow, they have inadvertently given such profound political analysis in just 20 minute cab rides to the economists, journalists, propagandists that one would think the eminent personalities are passing off conversations they have with the voices in their heads as conversations with cab drivers.
One of the first proponents of the phenomena was Cornell University Economics Professor Kaushik Basu (which is why we are humbly naming the syndrome after him).
Here are some examples:
Wonderful Sikh taxi driver in New York today—he spoke about the tragic treatment of farmers in India, & in detail about how the new farm laws hurt farmers. He got lost getting me home & when he refused to take money for the detour I realized the detour was to complete his speech.
— Kaushik Basu (@kaushikcbasu) October 10, 2021
Basu, in October 2021, very conveniently managed to get a Sikh taxi driver in New York who was very well-versed in the new farm laws that were introduced by the government back then. He even refused money for the detour he took so he can finish the speech giving gyaan to former Chief Economist of World Bank.
His cab drivers often take detours because I’m quite certain Basu is a delight to talk to.
My Ethiopian taxi driver took a roundabout route, assured me he would not charge for the diversion & stood by that promise. We were chatting all the way about Ethiopia.
— Kaushik Basu (@kaushikcbasu) May 5, 2018
I am now convinced his sole motivation for the route was to prolong the conversation. I learnt a lot. Thanks.
Earlier in February this year, he got a Bangladeshi taxi driver who was all praises for former Indian PM Dr Manmohan Singh, also an economist who kept India in policy paralysis for a decade during his tenure as PM.
Taxi from LaGuardia. Smart young Bangladeshi driver. As always I got talking. He was very critical of Bangladesh & corruption & all recent South Asian leaders. Then added, “with one exception, Manmohan Singh. He was a world class leader.” Then asked me, “Have you ever seen him?”
— Kaushik Basu (@kaushikcbasu) February 7, 2022
He’s also very humble when it comes to about the trivia he has gathered over the years.
Just travelled with the most scholarly taxi driver in New York. An Indonesian, he spoke of how Indonesia & India were close because of Nehru & Hatta, held forth on Indian culture & Amartya Sen’s popular writings. When I joined in, he asked, “How come you know so much about Sen?”
— Kaushik Basu (@kaushikcbasu) September 29, 2018
Taking a leaf out of this, many other prominent people have since met taxi drivers who echo exactly same anti-Modi thought which they have been tweeting about.
Here is leftist propaganda site Founding Editor Siddharth Varadarajan having insightful conversation with a waiter in Paris over covid vaccination certificate.
Paris cafe. Waiter wants vaccination proof.
— Siddharth (@svaradarajan) September 21, 2021
I show my certificate from India. He looks at photo printed on it and says disapprovingly, ‘But this is not you’. ‘Quite right, that’s our Dear Leader’, I say. ‘But why is HIS photo on YOUR certificate?’ he asks.
I have no answer.
Varadarajan claimed that while at a cafe in Paris, a waiter asked him for his vaccination certificate. According to Varadarajan, the waiter ‘disapprovingly’ compared picture on the vaccination certificate with Varadarajan and exclaimed how it was Varadarajan himself. Varadarajan then said how it was ‘Dear Leader’ (PM Modi) on the certificate and the waiter then wondered why it did not have Varadarajan’s picture instead.
Essentially, Varadarajan, who is an American citizen, was asked to provide for his vaccine certificate in a cafe in Paris and he was able to show how he was fully (or partially) vaccinated in India. But of course, we are to believe the waiter discussed ‘Modi pic’ on the certificate with him instead. Of course, netizens had then pointed out flaws in his well-crafted anecdote which led many to believe he had spun a fiction from a place where sun does not shine.
But then it seems everyone at The Wire is well-versed with conjuring up fantastic fiction.
The Wire columnist one Ismat Ara on Sunday took to Twitter to say how a Good Samaritan tea stall owner came to her rescue as knight in shining armour.
Stopped at a tea stall and realised I had got my period. I asked the shopkeeper if he had any sanitary pads. So he sat on his bike, told me to sit down, and brought me pads from a nearby shop. You’re like my sister, he said. I feel so grateful for men like Manaf. Thank you.
— Ismat Ara (@IsmatAraa) June 19, 2022
Ara claimed that when she stopped at a tea stall, she realised she got her periods and asked the shopkeeper if he had any sanitary pads. The shopkeeper, Manaf, since Ara was sure to tell us his name, stopped all his work, asked her to sit at the stall (not sure of what happened to existing customers who might have come for tea) and he quickly got on his bike to get her some napkins. He did it because she was like his sister.
I have a lot of questions on this. I am not saying Ara is making up the incident, but I am curious. Was it a tea stall where sanitary napkins are displayed (like some tea stalls display Kurkure and Maggi)? If I ran into such emergency I am likely to go to medical store and not tea stall. What inspired her to ask Manaf about sanitary napkin? I have even more questions but then I would be accused of being a gender traitor. So let me stay quiet before I go even more unhinged.
But at least we got one learning. That when it comes to saving the dignity of women, chaiwallahs are the ones who are rising to occasion.
Alhamdulillah.
