But seriously, Anthony Quadros!

About a fortnight ago, a city tabloid carried an interesting interview with the general secretary of Mumbai Taximen’s Union, Anthony Quadros. In that interview, he raised a few very interesting demands, which left me in splits for a long time.

He demanded...I wonder why every union leader only demands? Can’t they request, suggest, discuss? Demand – huh!

Anyway, I digress. And let me write this in first person to Anthony.

Anthony, you demanded rest places, taxi stands, transit points, urinals, a place to have their meals and an ‘engaged’ taxi board, which can be used by the driver at the time of rest.

All very valid demands, except that they all already exist!

Let’s talk about urinals first. In case your taxi drivers have not noticed, Anthony, there’s one large urinal just opposite CST. Take the JJ flyover from there, and there’s one at Byculla market – about 10 minutes drive from CST. The next one is at Parel, near the Railway Colony. Move ahead, and you’ll find one at Dadar TT, under the bridge. Four urinals that I can show you in a stretch of about 10 kilometers – there may be more. And in case your driver has to take a right at Wadala towards Bhakti Park, there’s one large urinal right next to the Customs Ground on Anik-Wadala Road. But this one, I’m absolutely certain, is invisible to your taxi drivers. After all, hundreds of taxis are parked all around this urinal, water is used from there to wash the taxis, but one always finds the drivers standing on the side of the road doing their thing all around the urinal but not going inside.

What next? Rest places, taxi stands, transit points. Can you explain to me the differences between the three? Because the 4 taxi stands that exist between Koparkhairane Sector 6 and Vashi Sector 17 – a distance of 5 kms (lesser, if you actually measure it, Anthony) have rest places, are also transit points and have rest place – and also have enough places around for taxi drivers to have their meals.

Anything else? Ah, the engaged taxi board. But then, doesn't the existing ‘half-down’ meter signify that the taxi is engaged?

You also mentioned that your taxi drivers refuse to ply certain passengers because they need to take some rest. I am unable to fathom how a taxi driver who refuses to take me from Phoenix Mills to Doordarshan because he wants ‘to take some rest’ is immediately refreshed when the person next to me asks him to go up to Bandra or Andheri! Please let us know the secret of this immediate energy - it will be very useful for a lot of people like me.

But seriously, Anthony Quadros!