It was the last shift of the day.
That thought lingered somewhere in Prasad's mind as he checked the GPS navigation cum booking app of his smart phone.
One booking he got pending. The passenger called him few minutes ago. In her shrill treble voice she asked him how long would he take to reach her place.
' within ten minutes madam', he gave his stock reply, knowing that those ten minutes could get stretched to fifteen or so, as they always do. On road it is almost impossible to predict exact time duration of arrival and departure.
It was 7.35 in the evening when he arrived at his designated pick up spot. A single storied house. The house was not well lit. Only at the patio a bulb was hanging trying to ward off the eerie darkness that was around the house. He honked twice. No one came out. He checked the booking app. There was nothing incorrect about the address. The map showed his arrival at the pick spot. Perfect.
He was thinking whether he should honk again or call the passenger.
Just then the door opened.
Prasad saw an elderly woman. She was trying to drag a small suitcase out of the door.
What prompted him he did not know, but seeing the elderly woman trying to drag a suitcase aroused something in him. He got down from the cab and went towards her.
' theek hain madam, humko de dijiye woh suitcase...' ( its all right madam, give the suitcase to me)
He said with a smile.
The woman looked at him and smiled back.
' okay'
She replied as she looked at him with her pale eyes.
Prasad had taken this last passenger call of the day thinking only the short distance he would have to cover. The passenger had chosen to be dropped only few blocks away from this pick up spot. Barely four kilometres.
As Prasad started the ignition, the passenger from the back seat called him.
'Beta, can you do me a favour? Can you drop me at that lane after taking a ride through this part of the city? The southern section? Just a ride by the lake , taking the Lake Road and then taking the main road again before you drop me ? '
She asked.
Prasad turned his head towards her, a bit amazed and flustered.
' you mean to say the long route instead of the shortest possible one? That would cost you both more money and time!'
He replied, trying to gather what could be in that old hag's mind.
Taking elderly people alone is something a matter of great worry.
Once he took an elderly gentleman as a lone passenger and he fell ill in the car. That drove him crazy.
' yes I know...I am in no hurry. Moreover, I got money to pay you, don't you worry'
The woman said.
Prasad looked at the woman's face. Her crow feeted eyes.
Wrinkles growing like different borders of districts and cities on a map, all over her face.
Yet there was a gentle aura in the face.
She looked like a mother no doubt.
A mother of a kind.
Perhaps desolate.
' okay'
Prasad said as he took the route as mentioned by the passenger.
All the way, the woman gave him details of buildings and parks and shops.
Pointing one building she told him how she had worked there for years at a small office dealing with patents.
Pointing a bench of a park she told him how she and her husband used to go there and spend time in the evening, munching jhalmoori ( puffed spiced rice).
Showing a tree she told him how that tree she found blossoming every spring.
' you must be in this neighbourhod for long'
Prasad remarked.
'Yes, for thirty years'.
She replied.
Seeing a shop in particular, she gushed.
'You know, I bought my first post wedding saree from this shop. My husband was with me. It had been a beautiful day of autumn. The weather had been beautiful. The sky had been absolutely marvellous.'
Prasad smiled.
' you got a sharp memory'
He quipped, now enjoying a bit the elderly passenger's jabberings.
Afterall it was his last shift of the day.
Then at one point the cab arrived at the spot where the passenger had to be dropped.
' here you are madam...'
Prasad said.
Stopping the car.
The booking app showed the fare.
' you got your fare shown in your phone'
Prasad informed as he got down and opened the door for the woman.
'Yes, two hundred and sixty five...here you are ...'
Saying this , the woman brought out a purse by her shaking weak hands.
Three hundred.
' you can keep the change...'
She said smiling.
Prasad smiled back.
Then he noticed two nurses near the door of the car.
Seeing them Prasad was a bit surprised.
' tell me, madam, are you ill or something?'
He asked.
The woman, now being held by two nurses on both sides, smiled.
' I lost my husband last year. My sons went abroad and never returned. And here am I shifting to this hospital for the last few days of my life.'
She said.
Prasad did not know what to do.
He looked at the elderly woman.
Her pale eyes looked quite charming.
Infact her face looked uncommonly resplendent.
' sorry madam, I am so sorry'
Prasad said as he hugged the woman.
He was not sure why he was hugging her.
But he felt he could not resist himself from doing that.
' its okay , beta'
The woman said before she was taken by the nurses to the hospital door.
Prasad looked at the three hundred bills he held in his hand.
They got crumpled. He almost forgot to put them into his pocket.
His last shift of the day had ended.
He had dropped his last passenger of the day.
Returning to the cab he logged out of the booking app of his taxi.
The system showed for one last time the pick up and the drop.
The exact distance traveled. The fare. He checked the boxes giving green ' tick' marks.
Everything seemed perfect.
Only somewhere within his heart , it did not seem so perfect.
Those crumpled papers.
People call them money.
Prasad looked at them, for the first time in his life of a taxi driver, with a strange apathy.
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21 Sep, 2018
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