Taxying Around

Due to Sameer's berating mail about moderating comments I had to come on the site early morning. So today it is the breakfast blog.

Licensing procedure is quite stringent here,more so when one comes from the part of the world where left is right and right is the wrong side. In Oman you drive on right hand side.... Add to this the right to left orientation of Arabic and I feel that I have entered the mirror world.

Getting a d/l is as difficult as getting a degree. Who so ever said this might not know how easy it is to get degree back home! One has to hire a trainer (striped cars) and then take lessons and finally give drum and roll tests and the road tests. The package costs you anything between Rial Omani 300 to 500 ( multiply by 120 to get INR equivalent). More on this later.

So from the time I gave up my Waggy (just a day before I left India), I am living as a common man. That means lot of walking and travelling in public transport. The only public transport is taxis. Mostly Corollas and Echos, you can take on shared basis or engage them. Taxi operations are reserved for Omanis and the day I am lucky I get a taxi wallah who can speak Hindi and plays Bollywood music on his deck. Otherwise I have to use all my dumb charade skills and land up at correct place. Although no one can beat Delhi taxi n auto wallahs but the common gene is there and so they will make a fast buck if a murga gets fasofied. Taxis are white with orange side panels and orange light on the top. By the way heavy commercial vehicles sport a flashing amber beacon here like the VIP cars back home. But then our VIPs are mostly white elephants so I think same principle applies.

But this is a good way to get street smart and collect lot of local info which one will never be able to pick from books and google searches.
Before I wind up, a taxi joke (thanks to Mandar)...... which does become reality here........ (accident rate is high here... more on that in future)

A minister dies and is waiting in line at the Pearly Gates. Ahead of him is a guy who's dressed in sunglasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket, and jeans. Saint Peter addresses this guy, "Who are you, so that I may know whether or not to admit you to the Kingdom of Heaven?" The guy replies, "I'm Joe Cohen, taxi driver, of Noo Yawk City." St. Peter consults his list. He smiles and says to the taxi driver, "Take this silken robe and golden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven." The taxi driver goes into Heaven with his robe and staff, and it's the minister's turn. He stands erect and booms out, "I am Joseph Snow, pastor of Calvary for the last forty-three years." St Peter consults his list. He says to the minister, "Take this cotton robe and wooden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven." "Just a minute," says the minister. "That man was a taxi driver, and he gets a silken robe and golden staff. How can this be?" "Up here, we work by results," says Saint Peter. "While you preached, people slept; while he drove, people prayed."

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