Meet the thakurs

[Originally written on 24th May 2010]

So.. here i am .. landed up in Gurgaon after long. Had been a resident of this city till 6 years back when i left my first job and moved out of this city.

The city surely has changed a lot in these years. In the evening i leave office and call for a radio taxi which i understand is the only possible way to commute if you don't have a car of your own here.

A shining green indigo was at my office gate in a few mins. (This as i will later realize is going to be a luxury in this city).

The cabbie is a well built guy with dominating mustache. As usual, i started talking to him.. about the city and all. The chap was actually an interesting person to talk to .. contrary to his no nonsense appearance.

A few minutes into the conversation, i asked his name and a proud reply came "Kali Das Thakur". I could see his chest swell as those words came out and there clearly was a mark of proud on his face. Now this may be a bit justified as the word 'thakur' does carry its weight as these people used to be big and powerful during pre-independence era and a few years into independence also. Now the fact that our guy was just a cabbie didn't seem to matter much to him.

The proud guy thought now that the right moment has come to show his cards, so he started with his history while I was still lost in my effort to keep track of gurgaon's development. But my lack of interest wasn't of much concern and he went on. He used to be a driver of Mercedes c-class (or what ever other class he told me) He has also driven a few other biggies in auto market.

So, he tried to justify that even though he isn't one of the biggies in the city.. but he is a biggie in his own space - a thakur to say. - he was also a royal in his own right

Meanwhile..the car running on highway crossed the speed limit and the 'over-speeding alarm' of the car went off. But that was just an irritant as he slowed down a bit and continued to enlighten me.

By the way.... the biggest tip he had got in life was 64000 rupees. Now that's quite an amount for a tip!! He claimed that it was given to him by Julia Roberts when she was in India and he was her driver for the duration.

My journey wasn't long and it was easier to find my guest house.. so that left him with not much option but to ct short the story.

I got down...thanked him for the service... he gave me his number to call again in case I need a cab again sometime.

...

After a minute or so.. i entered the guest house...the attendant, a guy in late teens showed me my flat.. told me about what all facilities i will have ...and which numbers to call in case i need something...

I was dead tired... thanked the guy for showing me the place...and out of habit.. asked him his name.. and "Tun Tun Thakur" came the reply!!
Now that was very unlike the thakur i had met a few mins back.. and particularly.. the name 'tun tun' didn't somehow went too well with the 'thakur'

I looked the guy in his eye...

he got what I am thinking..

and the guy went

[blush]

one more second passed...then...

[blush]  [blush]

...and he was out of the apartment!