The all-knowing driver!

Recently I gave a lift to a classmate in my car. After he got off, my driver told me that this person had held a very important post in the government. I was astonished that he knew my classmate because he had never met him. When I quizzed him as to how he knew my friend, but he, always a man of very few words, said “Driver”. I was stunned. It has never occurred to me that despite all the fuss about privacy laws, the danger was sitting on the front seat and, moreover, behind the wheel.

But jokes apart, drivers have always played a crucial role in human affairs since the time of the Mahabharat war. Remember who Arjun’s charioteer was? Krishna, no less. He guided Arjun at a crucial time when Arjun was having doubts over the war with his cousins. That guidance became the Bhagwad Gita with which we are all familiar.

Perhaps that was the only time that a driver played a positive role. Closer in time, some of the older readers of this journal may recall the case of a Congress party member who was also a minister for a long time. But guess how he had started his career? As the driver of the then Congress president. This was when the party was in the throes of internal trouble as two factions fought each other. The Congress president’s driver would overhear conversations on the back seat and report them to the leader of the rival faction. He thus played an important part in its victory.

A relative of mine used to have a driver who has been with them for over two decades. Over the years, as he grew older, his family started entrusting nearly everything to the driver because he was utterly honest and loyal. Whenever I went somewhere with them, I would be amazed at how much latitude they allowed him. Once they were discussing their three bank accounts and wondering which ones to close. Naturally the amount of money in each account came up. Eventually, fed up with their disagreements, the driver turned around and told them not only how much money there was in the different accounts but also which two to close. I fully expected them to explode in anger but they meekly agreed. That’s how important he was. But fortunately he was a very discreet man.

One of my friends has kept her driver for 30 years because she can’t trust anyone else when her daughter is in the car. She rarely goes anywhere now but the driver comes every day, cleans the car and watches films on his phone all day. He, too, is completely honest and loyal.

We tend to fully trust our drivers who, we always forget, have full access to our conversations in the car. But we have no control over what they do with what they hear and see.

But these examples are few and far between. The norm is dishonesty and betrayal. One driver told me in all seriousness that it was okay to steal petrol because it was a top up of the salary. I know of a few who would fill their two-wheelers with petrol syphoned from the owner’s car.

The worst example of driver’s behaviour was the well-documented case of the fellow who videotaped the amorous encounters of his VIP boss. He had not been paid his salary for many months. So one day he blackmailed the boss with the video. It was a sordid episode which ended badly for everyone who was involved.

I am sure this sort of thing has happened many times in different contexts because we tend to fully trust our drivers who, we always forget, have full access to our conversations in the car. But we have no control over what they do with what they hear and see. So, at least as far as amorous affairs are concerned it is probably better to take a taxi. n