Arar - North Sydney to Surry Hills, 22 dollars

"What, I just came from Surry Hills! "

You can tell from the accent that this taxi driver is not born in Australia.

"Do you know where Holt Street is?"

He looks a bit worried, but I'll be alright...

"Holt Street... Hmmm.... No worries, I will use my navigator"

"So where are you from?"

"Jordan."

"Wow, Jordan, I have never met anybody from Jordan before!"

"So you have never been to Jordan, do you know where it is? "

Oh God, somewhere in north Africa? How can I not know where Jordan is? Embarrassing!
"I believe I do... Almost"

"It is in the middle east, next to Israel"

Ok. I knew that. Do they have an wars there? I know so little about the world...
"How is Jordan? Peaceful or do you have wars? " Exposing my lack of knowledge. Be kind to me...

"Jordan is very peaceful! All the surrounding countries are less peaceful, but Jordan good. We have a good king! 85 percent of the people like him."
Wow! That is more than most democracies.

"Do the king have any power? "

"Yes! It is not like in England, the king decides everything! I have not been in Jordan since King Abdullah the second started ruling but I went back to Jordan last year and my family says that he is good. Ok. This is it. Holt Street 55.  "

"Oh thank you"

"You know, I picked those ladies up over there (pointing 100 meters away from where we are), the ladies I was dropping off when you were coming out of the office. I am so lucky getting a new customer immediately. Have a great day!"

Pavan - Adelaide aiport to curry Street, 24 dollars

"Is that your lucky duck?"

Pavan has a yellow toy duck hanging in the window.

"Haha, that is my favorite cartoon! I love cartoons. I used to watch cartoons everyday back in India with my brother"

"Are you a Sikh?"

A Sikh is the highest rank in the cast system in India. The priest cast.

"Yes I am a Sikh."

"So why don't you have a turban?"

The Sikhs are not allowed to cut their hair. They let it grow and wrap the hair up in a turban.

"Because I cut my hair. You know, Australian girls don't like it. "

"Are you allowed to according to your religion?"

"No, my father didn't speak to me for a whole year after I cut my hair. But now he i s ok."

"So what about your family?"

"They are still in India. In Punjab. You know, most Indian people in Australia are from Punjab. "

"Ah, Punjab is very poor, right?"

"No! Punjab is very rich!"

Oh, how ignorant I am. Now I insulted him...

"But Punjab has a lot of farmers right?"

"No, everybody believes that because you are a farmer you are poor! Everybody owns their land, everybody is rich. It is very expensive for us to come here. You know I payed 600 000 rupies to come here. You must be rich to come here. "

Double ignorance, well done of me!

"What about your brother, does he want to move here?"

"I have asked my brother but he is too lazy. In Australia you have to work hard. My father got a gold shop and my brother is working in that shop selling gold. He spends most of his days watching cartoons. He likes it that way. This is too much work for him. "

When I say goodbye to Pavan I wonder if that might be the way to spend my life. Selling gold in a gold shop and watching cartoons. Not achieving. Only being.

Datha - Adelaide airport to Mawson lakes, 48 dollars

"You can ask anybody in India. Anybody. Everybody will know who he is. It doesn't matter if you ask rich, short, long, tall. Everybody knows him. He is too famous."

Datha was talking about Swami Ramdev. Ramdev is apparently a great yoga guru in India and has started a Yoga revolution in India. He is on TV every morning and have millions of followers.

"Do you know if there is any web site or something?"
"yes, but I believe most is in Hindi"

Damn it. I really want to be mesmiresed by this yoga guru me too! I also want listen to his wisdom and make him my guru. Why isn't it in plain good English?

"You know, if you do as he says you will never get sick. You will never get cancer and always be healthy."

Really? So I need to check out this Rama... I Google him but I find most stuff is in Hindi. And nothing looks even close as interesting as I thought it would. So when I say good bye to Datha I decide to ask my Yoga teacher who has lived in India for many years about Ramdev.