“Have you reached safely Amma – I am Subramaniam Auto Driver
calling from Chennai.” My mother received this return call from an auto-driver
who had dropped her off at the railway station last week. A heart-warming recollection,
perhaps a courteous after-sales service, if you will 😊
The result of being treated well.
A driver has to be treated with enough respect – financially
and morally – my uncle says this all the time. There’s a reason why he says
that; he’s quick to back it up with a couple noteworthy stories from his
repertoire in Santhana Dharma mythology.
Devavritha, who later becomes Bhishma, gets to know of his
father Shanthanu’s gloom through their driver. Devavritha is at a marriageable
age and was already going to be the heir apparent. However, during a hunt, Shanthanu
comes across a beautiful woman by name Yojanagandhi. He immediately goes in
search of her father and expresses his desire to marry his daughter – Yojanagandhi
(who later comes to be known as Satyavati). He is so lovelorn and depressed due
to the fact that he also has an existing son – Devavritha who is ready to be
married and coronated.
Devavritha learns this secret through their driver – he goes
to explain King Shanthanu’s depression to Devavritha. Learning this, Devavritha tells his father that he is ready to give up on his crowning and lets him know
that he doesn’t wish to marry. He then convinces his father to get married to
Yojanagandhi and have the offspring from that marriage to become the next King.
This is famously known as the Bhishma Prathigna (stringent
vow) – who thus goes on to receive the boon of Iccha Mrithyu (postponing death
until he was ready).
In another couple incidents straight off the battlefield –
Kurukshethra in Mahabharatha, we have the classic example of our very own
Parthasarathy (Partha – Arjuna’s Sarathy – Charioteer) – Krishna doubling up as
Arjuna’s charioteer and even going to express His Vishwaroopam form to His dear
friend and maternal cousin Arjuna. We all know the importance of the role that
Krishna plays here by giving him the motivation he needs through the divine
song – Bhagavad Gita. Thanks to Arjuna’s depression, that the world got this
jewel of Gita.
Quite the opposite happens in the case of arch rival and Arjuna’s
paternal cousin – Karna. His charioteer Shalya is infamous for his deliberate
persuasions to divert Karna’s attention and in ripping his confidence apart –
making him feel weak and debilitated. The world knows about Karna’s expertise
in archery, which is beyond comparison with that of Arjuna’s skills – even Krishna
endorses this fact. However, Krishna converts this into a positive and turns it
as an opportunity for Arjuna. While the contrary is done by Shalya for Karna.
These little stories from our Bharatha Ithihasa explain the value
of a good driver whose job is not only to drop the passenger off at a point.
The journey is as essential as the destination and it takes skill and common
sense for a driver to complete his task at hand. The compensation paid to him
is thus for this very reason, vs. the distance he’s covering in terms of
kilometers. There are factors like taking you through the best route, with utmost
safety. If he is thus irked by the bargain right at the start, beware of the
ride ahead. It’s not so much about being oblivious about the economics of the
ride. It’s about being fair to the driver as well as taking into account our
own wellness as a passenger. The positives would outweigh the negatives and the
end result would be a safe drive, which we wouldn’t want to regret in the future.
You can’t put a cost to safety and measure it in the same scale as that of the
price of fuel. It’s always a wholesome package that you receive – we will need definite
dependence on the sense and sensibilities of the driver, who’s role cannot be ridiculed
or reduced to that of mere driving. It takes a certain road sense to navigate,
after all.
