Bisan, Manly to Sydney airport, 92 dollars

It is a beautiful morning. Warm and quiet and the sun is rising. The taxi has already arrived and the taxi driver gets out to help us with the luggage.

"Good morning! No, no, you do not have to go out, we do not have any luggage. It is just a day trip. "
The driver laughs and gets back in the car.
"Are you travelling international or domestic?"
"Domestic".
As we are driving out of Manly I am struck by the calmness in the morning. The time when few people are awake and the day is just waiting to begin.
"So where are you from originally?" This is the first time I got a driver that has a foreign accent going from Manly.
"I am from India. I am from Punjab"
"Ah, Punjab - yes I know Punjab, I have been to India, but not to Punjab."
"Well I have been here since 1982 now."
We keep on talking about this and that and then Bisan tells me that he actually used to be a chef and have a restaurant.
"Yeah, really? An Indian restaurant? "
"No, I am an Italian chef. I was a chef for 32 years. From Punjab I went to Germany and lived there and studied. That is where I learned how to be a chef. I used to have a restaurant in Neutral bay and one in Dee Why. "
"Wow, so how is it running a restaurant, is it profitable?"
"If it is busy, yes, very profitable. But not when it is not busy. And also it is so hard to find good staff. Very hard. You need to keep it within the family to make it reliable. My family used to work in my restaurant. My son was taking care of the front of the restaurant and I was taking care of the back, the cooking."
"And you still have any of your restaurants? "
"No, I do not have any of the restaurants left. I still own the property in Dee Why but lease it. It is a huge Indian store there now. Huge"
"That sells food?"
"Yes, everything. Food, clothes, DVDs. You can get anything Indian there. It is massive!"
"Sounds interesting, I want to go there!"
"Yeah, you know Pittwater road? It is just along Pittwater road, you cannot miss it. On your right hand side when you drive through Dee Why. You can get great Indian DVDs there about Hinduism, a lot of Australians come and buy them."
"So you do not do any Indian food?"
"Only for fun, I cannot do it professionally. Only Italian. But now when I do not have my restaurants anymore, I am driving the taxi. But just for fun, I do it two to three days a week. Just to pass the time you know. My son moved back to India a couple of years ago and started a school there. A school for teaching English and computer sciences. He has got a master of computer science from Australia. He started small but now he has got 150 students. My second son just got married. He works with accounting. The marriage was in Canada"
"So his wife is Canadian?"
"She is Indian-Canadian. They live with us now since a couple of weeks back."
We are now approaching the domestic airport and the queue of cars stretches out onto the highway. Will I make it? With 35 minutes before the flight departs we arrive at the taxi rank at the departures.
"Thank you Bisan, it was great chatting to you. Have a great day!"
"Thank you. You too and enjoy your flight. Please call me when you need a taxi and I can arrange so that you will be picked up, even from the airport. "

Gurnam - Richmond (Melbourne) to Melbourne Airport, 49 dollars

"So how does it feel to live in the best city of the world, Melbourne? " Melbourne was recently announced to be the best city in the world to live in according to the Economist.

"It feels great! It is much better than Sydney. "
"Really, why?" I love Sydney and consider Melbourne a beautiful city but quite European and not as exotic and the climate is much colder.
"Sydney is so crowded. So much traffic everywhere. And it is so expensive. "
Fair enough. Melbourne is much less crowded, and cheaper.

"I love Melbourne. And Australia. You know, I am from India but even though I am from India I do not want to live in India."
"Why not?"
"The corruption. India has too much corruption. Everywhere. You cannot do anything. You want to start a business, you need money to pay everybody. Everybody fill their own pockets first and then they do their job. Here in Australia, anybody can start a business. It is just to do it. In India, the british started the corruption when they came. They took all the riches of India and started corruption. A lot of politicians have tried to stop it during the years but nothing happens. "

"Look at the rich people in India. They get away from taxes. They hide and pay around 1 percent of their income in tax. 1 percent! That is nothing. They should pay maybe 20 to 30 percent! Look at Australia. Everybody pays taxes but look. We have roads, schools everything works. Everything. The tax money is actually used in a good way here. "

"That is right, it works pretty well here doesn't it. "

Melbourne airport. We are here, Jetstar, here we come!

"Thanks for the ride Gurnam, see ya! "

Sam - Nedlands to Perth Airport, 56 dollars

Sam is a young taxi driver. He has got large sun glasses and longer black hair. Very aware of his style. When he picked me up he was so happy to get a long ride all the way to the airport. He said it was his lucky day. Now we have been driving for ten minutes and are now driving along a river.

"What do you mean that you do not know if this river is the same river as the one in the CBD? You are a taxi driver and must know the city inside out? "
I am smiling at Sam and he sighs.
"I don't know! I cannot focus on the stuff around me."
Sam is laughing
"I got so much stuff going on in my life. Life is shit"
"No come on, life is wonderful! What is bothering you?"
"Well, first of all I am in love with this girl. But she is getting married to another guy. But she does not want to marry him. "
"Wow. That is though. Why does she not want to marry him? Did her parents choose him? "
"Yes. And they are engaged. And everybody is expecting this to happen you know. "
"Do you still see her?"
"Yes I do." Big sigh. "If she was going to break up with this guy it will cause a lot of pain. Family, relatives, friends. Everybody is expecting this. And if she breaks up because of me I must marry her instead. "
"And are you prepared to marry her? "
"I am not ready yet. I am studying, I cannot support her now. "
"But does she not have a job? "
"Yes, she has got a good job"
"And she likes it?"
" Yes, she likes it."
"Hey Sam, take it easy. Just be patient, everything will be alright in the end. If you do not know what to do, just relax."
"Well, yeah, I dont know what to do... "

We continue talking about other stuff in his life that is "shit". But even though everything is bad Sam laughs a lot and is very easy going. I am sure that he will be fine. He also tells me that he used to live in Melbourne for a few years so I ask him about the differences between Melbourne and Perth

"Perth is much better! People in Melbourne are so rude. People in Perth are so nice. The weather in Melbourne sucks! The weather in Perth is great, everyday sun. Fantastic. "

We arrive at the airport and Sam drives away, happy with the longest drive of the 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.