Meter Down: Recent Episodes
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Conversations in Hindi with Bombay taxi drivers about migration and home, Bombay and change, taxi driving and life, and some great taxi stories.
Tanaji is Maharashtrian from Kholapur area. He has been driving taxi for a long time. We have a very spirited discussion about capital punishment, Kasab, daughters aside from the taxi life and his dreams. For more, please visit the blog at http://meterdown.wordpress.con
Kader Usman Mujawar is from Maharashtra, from Karad, and he came here when he was 18, as an 8th class pass, looking to find a job in a Mill or the Fiat factory, but ironically, instead, he has been driving a Fiat taxi for the past 25 years. please visit the blog at meterdown.wordpress.com for photos, outtakes and links
sheshnath tripathi's life has taken an interesting arc and we are catching him on the downside. He went into the transport business, owning taxis and lorrys, but now that it over and he is in debt and back in the taxi, his taxi. He loves the news, reading the news and watching the news and we talk of politics, parties, politicians and civic responsibilities. Meter Down blog is at http://meterdown.wordpress.com for photos, outtakes and musings
irdris is from gujarat. He came to bombay 30 years ago. he lives in dharavi and we speak about its redevelopment, about his life, about films, about undiyo too.
Mohammad Mustaqeen Khan came to Bombay from UP, a strong 20 year old man from a village, and started out in haath gadi at Do Tanki in Chor Bazaar area. Twenty-six years later he has bought more land, rebuilt his home and married off 4 children, all from driving taxi. We talk about street level economics, how much he used to make and what it bought, how much he makes now and what it buys.
When Mahadev Singh left Jharkhand 20 years ago as a 20-year old youth, it was Bihar he left. He came with friends who were cooks in homes on Malabar Hill. He didn't like cooking. He has been driving a taxi for 10 years. This is his story.
This podcast is a Bombay story told by a Class 3 drop-out who has poured his sweat into the labouring jobs that build this city and keep it vital. He calls Bombay home but he doesn't see his place in the future city.
ram sanvar works in new great eastern mill in the day and drives taxi at night and has for 27 years. UP, Bombay, Taxi Driver, Mill Worker. We all contain our multiplicities. Listen to the story of his. please visit the blog at http://meterdown.wordpress.com
seva lal was the 4th driver in meterdown podcasts. at that time he was uncertain about his future in the face of the impending cancellations because his taxi was 25 years old. his taxi has been cancelled and he no longer driver kaali-peeli because he can't afford the loan terms. visit the blog at http://meterdown.wordpress.com for photos, outtakes from the podcast and a little video
Rafiq has lived in in Jijamata Nagar, Worli, his whole life. His taxi had been cancelled because it was 25 years old. He has had this new one for a month. He says it is more comfortable to drive and he doesn’t get as tired but he describes the loan as atyachar, taxi ka atyachar, and Bombay as a confuse nagari. please visit the blog at meterdown.wordpress.com
kadeer is a reluctant taxi driver. He has had many jobs, has worked in the Gulf. He was born in bombay. listen to us sing a duet. visit the blog at meterdown.wordpress.com for additional audio files and photos
mohammad kasab is from hyderabad but came to bombay when he was 10, with a group of friends. that was 42 years ago. he is the first driver from the south, the first not from a village and the first to have cast a vote for the mns party. visit meterdown.wordpress.com for photos and more audio files
this is the first podcast after the 26/11 attacks on bombay. sebastian fernandes, born and brought up here, has a lot to say about it. please visit the blog at meterdown.wordpress.com
This conversation is different. Jamid Ali is my friend and I know his story. I wanted to share it. And listen to him sing his ghazals, his naghmas. Visit Http://meterdown.wordpress.com for photos, small video clip and more ghazals
arvind kumar rai is an HSC science graduate from UP. how did he end up an educated taxi driver in bombay? please also visit the blog at http://meterdown.wordpress.com
junaid is from the chiliya community, which means he is from gujarat, not from UP. they were the orginal bombay taxi drivers way back at the beginning. we spoke on a very rainy monday after the bomb blasts in ahmedabad, about them, about 1992, about the city, and about taxi driving. visit the blog at http://meterdown.wordpress.com
Anil Chauhan is 18 years old and its his 15th day driving. He left home the first time when he was 13. All the stories we have heard so far are told from the distance of adulthood and memory. Anil is living these stories now and its at the beginning. Please visit blog at meterdown.wordpress.com
lal mohammad khan and i had the raciest conversation yet, while still staying within the boundaries. HIV/AIDs, safe sex condoms and a wild youth. visit the bog at meterdown.wordpress.com for outtakes, photos and even a video.
sagir bhai arrived in 1984 as a 16 year old runaway who had just failed his 10th board exams. he speaks to us of 1992, raj thackeray, film shoots, one room dwellings and bombay uska jaan. visit the blog at http://meterdown.wordpress.com
nabob bhai and I had a very filmi conversation; favourite heros, heroines and songs. But he also responds, as a Muslim and a bhaiyya, to the communal and chauvinistic voices of bombay. please visit the blog at http://meterdown.wordpress.com
lallan singh comes from jharkhand. He tells us of his place in this new city of bombay of malls and towers and explains how high dahej can affect the education of the girl child. visit the blog at http://meterdown.wordpress.com
abdul wahid khan is full of stories. he tells us of his life in bombay, his pride in his son and the tensions of this years 12th board exams, and his own faith in Khuda. for photos and podcast outtakes visit --> http://meterdown.wordpress.com
subash chand arrived in bombay from UP and slept on the footpaths of grant rd. he now owns his own taxi and wants to work in saudia. he tells us his story and desribes his life and dreams. meter down blog at http://meterdown.wordpress.com blog now in hindi also. my email: cubbykabi (at) yahoo (dot) com
seva lal jaiswal talks of his taxi union, sex and kissing in the back seat, how he handles fare who dont want to pay, and as he tells his story, he discloses something personal. Meter Down blog at http://meterdown.wordpress.com Transcript available there in Hindi
guptaji has been driving taxi since 1967. 40 years. he speaks of bombay in the time of the mills, the fautlines that have appeared in the our city post 1993 and he tells us his story. meter down blog at http://meterdown.wordpress.com
babu describes his 25 years in bombay, and the travails and future of taxi driving. he also has a story about raj kapoor.
visit http://meterdown.wordpress.com for shownotes, photos and more audio snippets
Hari Lal Yadav describes his home in UP, his home in Bombay, his family in both places. He tells some taxi stories and he explains the machinations of the new taxi fleet owners with the driver and their union over taxi licenses and what the future might hold.
visit http://meterdown.wordpress.com for shownotes, photos and more audio snippets