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Where have all the Sikh cabbies
gone?
WSN Network
MUMBAI: It is
easier to find a Sikh cabbie in
New York now
than in Mumbai. About a couple of decades ago, hailing a taxi on
Guru Nanak's Gurpurab would not have been easy. Back then, a major
chunk of the taxi driver population comprised Sikhs. Now, although
the number of taxis plying the city's streets has increased
manifold, finding a turbansporting taxi driver has become a rarity.
"Over the past 25 years, the number of Sikhs in the field has fallen
from 30-40 per cent to a mere 10 per cent," said Bombay Taximen's
Union President A.L. Quadros.
In the years
after Partition, taxi driving was a prime occupation for the many
Sikhs who came down from
Punjab to earn a
living. They grew to become the public's favourite, earning the
reputation of being the most trustworthy of the lot.
Drivers are now
predominantly from Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar. "People
trusted us because of our hard work, even women would feel safe in
our cabs at late hours, but these days there is no place for
honesty," said Jagtar Singh Gill (78), who plied his taxi for 30
years before getting into the transport business, the preferred
option for most Sikhs who quit taxi driving.
To Gill, it is
no surprise that Sikhs don't want to drive cabs anymore. His son,
Iqbal Singh, a fourth generation cab driver in the family who also
left the profession, does not want his children to get into the
field. Ditto with taxi driver Surjit Singh, who has got his children
admitted to an English medium school and wants them to take up
service. "Sikh drivers have always been educated, and they are still
considered trustworthy," said the 40yearold.
The way things
are going, worried mothers looking for a `Sardarji' cab will only
remember the good old days more nostalgically when sending the
daughter with a turbaned driver was a guarantee of safety.
4
November 2009
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