Drivers Diary -A treasure trove of Interesting tales from across the country and beyond

A driver always has something interesting to share,having traveled across the length and breath of the country on account of their work.On my trip to Agra from Delhi, I happened to meet one such interesting driver and his travel diary had a plethora of interesting stories, which I am delighted to share them with you all

Road Trip to Pakistan
I never thought an Indian vehicle could drive through Lahore and Karachi and small villages in the middle. But driverji tells us its very much possible, he has driven through Pakistan over 3 times with tourists and has completely enjoyed being in that country.
You need to take your visa from Delhi, and then your car and driver gets a green card, which entitles him to drive through the country. You enter Pakistan via the Attari border near Amristar.The time for such exits is between 10- 11 in the morning. There are 3 customs checks that happen, and then you drive in and reach Lahore, The country side is beautiful. There are similar kind of hotels lik India. Scotters, bikes and cycles are not allowed in Pakistan. It’s a dictorial country, women have the worst leaving conditions. He narrates many instances where women ask people like him and other drivers to take them to Delhi the bijli ka shehar.
He said that the country is pretty much safe, there is no reason too worry about being attacked by anyone, but as every country has good and bad people, if you happen to meet one bad cop or bad person, who happens to harras you, you would consider it as a bad country. He says hiring a innova from a reputed company for 7 days would be enough to cover Pakistan. The damages would be approx 25,000( only travel)


Road Trips
Driverji has been working for over 20 years and has traveled to almost all parts of India, and the neighboring countries, including Nepal, Pakistan and China

Three places you must never visit on a roadtrip( by Driverji)

Kashmir: He said that in Kashmir people are extremely violent. He has had many instances of leaving tourists at the houseboat and when he would return to pick them up, he would be told that they have already gone. Days later, it would be known that the tourist was murdered and his body would be found floating on the water. The house boat owners, or tourists just want to make instant money

Nepal:Nepal is quite a notorious country. The minute they see an Indian number plate on the car, they will break the headlights, damage the car, and if the tourists are inside, would try to steal their goods, or even threaten them or hurt them with weapons

Negro village in Gujarat : Interestingly, I have never heard of this place although I have been to Gir. This is in Sasan Gir, a village full of Negros. Legend has it that the Nawab of Junagarh, brought them as slaves to work for them, another story says that they descended from the earlier times, when the Arab traders brought Abbisynian slaves many many generations ago. However this guys speak gujarati, eat the local food, etc but they look like negros, Africans.
This guys are extremely violent, and because of their poor living conditions can steal anything from you including your clothes


Kokila Van
On the highway , you would pass through an exit for Kokila Van. The driverji smiled and asked me, if I knew what this place was. I smiled replied, is it a village made by Ambani brothers for their mother.
Kokila van is basically a shani vanish place. Basically the story goes that the wife of shani was talking to him, and he didn’t pay attention, so she told him, that whatever you will look at, will get destroyed, that’s why they say ke shani ka graha ho to bhari hota hai.

So if you want to get away from this shani graha, u need to visit the place with your mothers brother on a Saturday, or if u come alone u have to come 7 times. Interesting. Lot of people come here every Friday night



Incentive programs for Drivers by Hotels
Growing up in the cites, we have heard about the various marketing schemes by companies to entice customers to buy their products or even incentive program by companies for their employees, but I had never heard of incentive programs for tourist drivers. Interestingly every hotel ranging from a roadside Dhabba to a five star hotel on the Delhi Agra highway has an incentive program for the driver. They are in various forms

Food commission on Dhabhas- We happened to stop by at a nice Dhabha for lunch. The parathas were scrumptious, and as a gesture to thank my driver for bringing me to this nice place, I insisted he shared the table with me, he was reluctant but i insisted. He had some normal sabji and couple of rotis and I was happy with my one paratha. When the bill came I was shocked to see Rs 300, this was ridiculous, coz even if I went to a udupi restaurant in Mumbai,I would end up paying maximum 150- 200 bucks. I felt cheated, so although I went to the counter and paid the money, I told the owner, that I knew he was cheating me by over charging me. When we sat back in the car, my honest driver returned me some money. I enquired and he said, that he charged you a tourist tariff, and in such cases they give money to the driver, as an incentive to bring tourists to his dhabba. That’s how the stories of this incentive program came out. Whenever drivers stop by at a dhabba, the driver is given free food, or money, and sometimes both. Then he clearly pointed out, the reason he didn’t want to share the table with me, coz anyways his food would have been taken care off. The dhabba owners address the drivers as Ustadji.


Prizes on the number of visits with tourists at the hotel
Some of the more high profile hotels, give the driver free food, regardless of the fact that the travelers dine or not at the hotel. They make an entry of the car no and the driver in their register. So once the car has come 4 times its get a x gift, its come 6 times it gets an x gift. They also distribute free blankets or bags during diwali


Commission on inhouse guests
Most of the good hotels including the Taj, oberoi etc in Agra, give the driver a 300rs allowance on bringing a guest to their hotel, they also give him free food and accommodation

Free accommodation and nominal family accommodation charges for driver
Some of the good hotels like Jaypee palace, if informed earlier, give the driver a room for him and his family at a nominal rate of 200 bucks. He says that the room is as good as the 7000 rupee room we stay in, without the amenities like AC and fridge etc. They also give free food and accommodation for all the drivers who have guests at the hotel.

Anokhi ke Paratha the Indian pizza in Agra
This was the best thing that Driverji introduced me to. Anokhi a small stall, has the best the parathas in the world. He makes them in desi ghee, and they are so well made in texture, better then a thin crust pizza also. Apparently this guy owns all the land in the surrounding, it is located next to ITC in Agra. He has a small stall, but all the drivers from the hotels come to take parcels for their guests. It was the best paratha I have ever eaten, thousands times better than Partha gali in chandini Chowk

This article would be incomplete without thanking Bhuj, from whom I have inherited the wonderful quality of talking to the locals to find out about the local customs and traditions. If it hadn’t been for her, we all would have been

Short stories- 10 William House

For a long time i have been contemplating about writing a book of short stories, and after reading a post To Blog or not to Blog by my aunt, i realised that in our daily lives itself, there are so many premises we come across, that we can take them and build stories around them.10 William House is my first short story.It is completely fictional,however the seed for the story comes from a rickshaw driver i meet in Allahbad.


10 William House


Abdul lived in the old civil lines area of Allahabad.He was in his late 40`s but his profession as a cycle rickshaw driver had taken a toll on him. His face was full of wrinkles, so were his legs and he looked nothing less than 50 in age.Abdul lived alone in a small slum in a tiny lane in Civil lines. No one knew about the existence of his family. His house was a small room, with hardly any belongings apart from a small transistor radio, an old wooden cupboard, a few vessels and a stove. He liked to begin work early; he would wake up just before dawn, bath and cycle to the railway station.

It was just another day for Abdul; business had not been too good the previous day, so he drove to the railway station on the brink of dawn hoping to get some customers.A lot of trains going to Mughal Sarai and Lucknow stopped at Allahabad station every morning. Allahabad was not really a tourist destination but more of a student’s city.

Abdul reached the station and took a spot at the rickshaw stand. There were just about 2-3 cycle rickshawalas and autorickshaw drivers waiting at the stand. Abdul lived alone, so whenever he meet people he would love to talk. He chatted with Mohan the auto rickshaw driver about the auto rickshaw business, who was proudly telling him how he got fares in the night by ferrying prostitutes to their respective clients or making deals for them.Abdul was a very straight guy,he didn’t like this kind of talk, so he moved away from Mohan and sat on the cycle rickshaw wondering about the ways of this world.

The train arrived and there was spur of passengers coming out. Among all the passengers a girl walked out.She was alone, and she had no luggage accept a big bag hanging over her shoulders.She was looking at some transport she haggled with the autorickshaw guy but he was not willing to come down on the price so she walked further looking for another mood of transport.

Abdul got up from his seat and went and asked the girl
"Bitiya tum Kaha jayogi, University le jayoo"
The Girl replied
"Nahi chacha, muje triveni sangam jana hai, aap kitne paise lenge"
"Bees rupee de dena bitya"
The girl was so charmed by his mannerism of talking that she instantly agreed to the ride without haggling on the price

The girl was a backpacker and she had come to see the Triveni Sangam and after that look around the city and board the bus to her next stop Lucknow.

As Abdul drove her through the tiny streets of Allahabad, she asked him about the specialty of Allahabad and house of Amitabh Bacchan. Abdul was more than delighted to tell her about Allahabad.She was thrilled to see those beautiful old British bungalows. He told her how life was different then, how the Britishers moved around in horse buggies.Infact his father worked for a very famous British judge Sir Frank Williams who owned a big mansion on Civil lines. His father was the main buggy driver. They lived in the huge servant quarters of the mansion. Even after independence Sir Frank Williams continued to live in Allahabad, but the horse buggy was soon gone. Abdul and his father continued to live with Sir Frank Williams and help around the house and do all his odd jobs.Abdul`s mother died when he was just about 2 years old, so he grew up with his father.

As they passed through William House,Abdul pointed it out to her. When she enquired, if he still lived there, Abdul’s pleasant smile shrunk and he said no. The curious girl obviously asked him about the reason, and he said ‘ Bitiya, Maf karma hum uske bareme bata nahi sakte’.

The triveni sangam ghat arrived and Abdul told the girl ‘ Bitiya dhyan rakhne, yeah nav vale ko 40 rupee se jyada maat dena, aur dhyan rakhne, who kumbh mele ke ghat pe koi pujari miljayega to aapko paiso ka sankalp karvayega”

The girl took the boat ride and wondered about the reason for Abdul leaving that house.After that blissful ride of the Triveni sangam, the girl decided to walk through the city. One of the things she noticed were this shops selling guns, revolvers.Curious as always she entered one of the shops and enquired how much it would cost for a normal revolver.She also asked the uncle to direct her to the house of Girdharisham. Girdharisham was a very old friend of the girls grandfather, since the house was nearby the girl decided to at least go and give a flying visit to the uncle.

Girdharisham lived in a palatial bungalow. He was a retired lawyer of the High court. As they chatted over chai and the crisp butter biscuit, the girl casually enquired if he knew Sir Frank Williams.Girdharisham told her that Sir Frank Williams was a very good friend of his father,who was also a judge.The girl got even more curious, so she enquired about him. Girdharisham`s face turned grim, he said Sir Frank Williams was murdered 5 years ago.

Sir Frank Williams lived in one of the biggest mansions of Allahabad, with the advent of urbanization one of the biggest builders from Noida wanted to construct a huge mall on that same property. He was willing to pay a hefty amount for the same plot of land. However Sir Williams was quite happy with his lifestyle and house and did not want any additional money. His son who lived in London was visiting him at that time. His son had tried his hands on various businesses using his fathers money and had been quite a failure. He had come to beg for some more money from Sir Williams.When he learnt about the astounding sum of money the builder was ready to offer his father,he realized the only thing to do was to kill his father.

One evening he went into the adjoining terrace of his father room, the lights had gone, but he noticed a human figure, and aimed at it. He fired two more shots and just as he was turning away the lights came up and he saw his father in front of him. Considering it as a illusion after killing his father he decided to walk off, but he had not gone far, when his father tried to hit his head with a big vase. A fist fight began between the duo and the son succeeded in killing the father with a pocket knife which he removed from his pocket.

The entire episode was witnessed by the servant’s son,Abdul.It was very brave of Abdul to stand up and play witness to the murder. However as you are aware money power pumps the delay in judicial system.The police have though recorded Abdul`s statement, William`s son has cleverly obtained a bail and lives in London, whereas the builder has decided to opt out of the deal,as they are wary of the house being dragged into any judicial custody.