Finding Mr Parikh

Mr. R. S. Parikh is an unassuming 52 year old taxi driver from Lower Parel in Mumbai, and drives taxi number 14558-W-2000.

He needs glasses to be able to read fine print. He has one son and two daughters. He hails from Uttar Pradesh, and has lived the greater part of his adult life in Mumbai and can now identify every hotel and every street in this vast city, although the odd name does slip through the talons of his mind. He is a conscientious man who wants his children, especially his daughters, to go out and experience the world and hopes they will get an education that will enable them to make an independent life for themselves.

But how do I know all this? And why was it so important to find Mr. Parikh?

Just about a week into my stay in Mumbai city and thanks to my mortal fear of the Mumbai local!! I was being bled to death by the (omnipresent) taxis!!! I know what you’re thinking… the taxis in Mumbai are second to none and are an essential component of its intricate transport system… I am sure you’re right, however, after you’ve paid Rs.50/- for the same distance you yesterday traveled for 20 bucks… you’ll forgive the loss of faith! But then, just as the proverbial donkey’s proverbial back was about to break, I met Mr. Parikh…

Mr. Parikh was a man who chose to be honest in a trade where not being so was the key to making a lot of ‘quick bucks’. He believed in being honest with tourists!!!! [Tourists: the universally accepted bait for small and big fish alike!] He said this was important to preserve the good name of the city he works in. He drove us on various trips round the city… each time charging by the billing card, which he had so generously taught us to read so that we would not get fleeced by other cabbies. The day I was leaving Mumbai he waited with me for an hour and a half of lucrative business hours because he didn’t think a girl should have to wait alone in a strange city.

Good people exist… though, it’s easier to believe that in the dog-eat-dog world we live in such people must have long since become extinct. Rare as seeing shooting stars maybe, but the fact remains that if you spent more time looking up at the sky you would see more shooting stars than you do with the occasional heavenward glance. Those who have given up hope in the goodness of mankind will not be disappointed either. If you go out into the world expecting to find only the bad, the ugly and the dishonest…odds are someone will make your nightmares come true. When you start out trusting someone, you give them incentive to live up to your expectations. That, however, does not imply blind faith… just the willingness to look with all your heart for goodness and sincerity particularly in the face of constant defeat.

Mr Parikh told me that he thinks there are about 80% corrupt people in the world and only 20% who want to be honest. He has seen a lot more of the world for me to be arguing percentages with the man, but I think that even that 20% needs someone to believe in them. I found my 20% and I am infinitely grateful for it. Here’s hoping the other 80% will meet their 20% soon.