This guy owes me his life. Or at least about 50 rupees.
Whilst he changed the wheel of his taxi on a busy blind corner in North Mumbai, my job was to stand guard, facing the oncoming, insesantly beeping traffic as it expressed its collective alarm at seeing him on all fours in the middle of the road.
My heart was skipping as I handed him tools and passed him the new wheel in exchange for the flat-tyred one. But he was in good spirits, probably safe in the knowledge that the insane traffic flow beeps entirely arbitrarily and generates far less collisions than expected
It also somehow never seems to stop. Traffic in London consists generally of standstill queues but in Mumbai, every vehicle manages to ram its way through the everflowing anarchic chaos. I think Boris should consider a rehaul.
Anyway, after half an hour of roadside car maintenance (he had to beg/borrow/steal a jack and had some pretty tight nuts!), I thought he'd acquiesce to my fare haggling or at least thank me for the help. No such luck but the whole ordeal was so hilariously surreal and he so manic and eccentric that it was me who was thankful in the end.
My heart was skipping as I handed him tools and passed him the new wheel in exchange for the flat-tyred one. But he was in good spirits, probably safe in the knowledge that the insane traffic flow beeps entirely arbitrarily and generates far less collisions than expected
It also somehow never seems to stop. Traffic in London consists generally of standstill queues but in Mumbai, every vehicle manages to ram its way through the everflowing anarchic chaos. I think Boris should consider a rehaul.
Anyway, after half an hour of roadside car maintenance (he had to beg/borrow/steal a jack and had some pretty tight nuts!), I thought he'd acquiesce to my fare haggling or at least thank me for the help. No such luck but the whole ordeal was so hilariously surreal and he so manic and eccentric that it was me who was thankful in the end.
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