The most interesting Uber ride I ever had

I am writing something for the first time in three years so apologies in advance. 

I take a lot of uber (ola also) rides. Basically, there are two primary reasons for it. First, I don't have a car and second I don't have other options.
Let's start the story now. Last week I was in Delhi and I took an uber from Ramprastha to Nee Delhi Railway Station. It was a 40 minute ride and a ride to remember. The driver was 21 year old Haryanvi muslim from Faridabad (this is totally irrelevant but I love this combination).


Armaan, the driver seemed to be a good observer and listener. He turned the radio on and the first song was 'Sunny Sunny' (the Yo Yo Honey Singh track), this followed another such song and then a long commercial break. I could see Armaan frustrated. To put an icing on the cake the break ended with a man sharing his disturbed relationship story with the jockey and Armaan was unable to resist. He turned off the radio and said "aaj kal ke gaane bilkul bekaar hain kuch bhi bana dete hain". He then plugged in his phone and started playing songs from the 90s and started praising them. Meanwhile he didn't stop bitching about today's music industry. 

His next lines were "iss neha kakkar ne baja rakhi hai gaano ki aur log bhi kaise hain khushi se sunte hain". My reply was "sahi baat keh rahe hain aap bhaiya" and boom!!!, he exploded yet again. For the next 10 minutes he discussed lyrics of a number of songs. I remember BABY DOLL, "matlab bhai koi iska matlab batao, duniya pittal di aur babh doll main sone di, kuch toh sense rakho bhai. Puraane gaane dekho kitne zyada meaningful hote the. Lagta tha logo ne effort lagaya hai, aaj toh ye neha kakkar kuch bhi bol jaati hai".

It seemed that Ms.Kakkar had hurtled him on a personal level. This followed by him saying that radio used to be really good back in the days and today it's just boys discussing about girlfriend issues with the RJs. By the way, he said back in the days and he was only 21, too much nostalgic for that age. I focused on just one formula taught by the great Zakir Khan, i.e. hmm, achaa, theek hai. And let me tell you this works equally good on boys. The discussion on songs continued and at one point he stopped at alcoholism and told me he doesn't drink. I said that's really good and he should carry it forward but he got carried away. Armaan shared his first bar experience where his friends took him. He refused consuming alcohol and drank a tasteless juice which he regrets till date. He then told about how girls tried to hook-up with him and he refused each one of them because "nashe me dhurt ladki ka main istemaal nahi karta". That's really nice of him.

He didn't drink but he smoked and smoked a lot. His friends again forced him and this time he couldn't resist. I asked him why to which he replied a lot of tension goes on in life and cigarettes are the best way to tackle them. An argument with his girlfriend made him smoke 10 one day. He's the same person who's fed up of boys complaining about their relationship to RJs (xD). At this moment I got frustrated and wanted to arrive at my destination asap. There was a huge traffic jam in between and he shared a few more stories. He showed me his uber stats and the rewards he's earned and will earn and rubbished ola (which everyone does), and I realized that driving a cab can be considered an option during bad times. All but one of the compliment was yet to unlocked for his profile which would earn him another reward and I gave him that (he deserved it). I finally arrived at my destination and he greeted me and wished me Happy Journey.

His final and yet another interesting story was alternate career option. His friend suggested him to open a Chicken Biryani shop and I tried encouraging him. He told he's already done that and his dad has just called him for the details regarding the display board. I have promised him to try his biryani whenever I go to Faridabad, I hope he remembers me because I'll surely remember him for rest of my life. He was one of the most interesting persons I have met till date. 🙂 

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