PHIR MILENGE!

The other day I was late at office and had called up a meru to come back home

to Powai. It was 10:10 pm when I left office. As usual, the driver (his name was Md Khan, i guess) asked me which way should I take you from, and unusually so, I told him wherever there would be minimum traffic (My road sense is pathetic).

All of a sudden, some discussion started on the safety of Meru. Then he said that we have this small screen in the cab where the passenger's name is being flashed and till the time, the passenger would reach the destination, it would continue flashing. (I think it must be flashing till the time the billing is done.) So, as per him, the drivers cannot do things like misbehaving, or taking from a longer path, smoking, etc because the GPS keeps tracking them with a screen at the call centre.

When I asked about their business model and the salary he draws, he said that each one of them are assigned one cab, and at the start of the night (their works hours being 11 pm to 10 am), they deposit Rs 700/ day with Axis Bank with the company account. And out of the entire amount they bill on one night, Rs 900 (Rs 700 deposited plus Rs 200 on fuel) is deducted and the balance is their earning per day.

Seems that each Meru cab gives the Company a fixed income of Rs 700/day.

When asked as to how people get qualified for driving, he said that they have a training (the guy who gives them the training draws a salary of Rs 75k/month) and then a series of exams (i guess, 8 in number). They are taught the manners like saying "aap" to passengers, not driving too fast even when insisted, not cosuming alcohol or smoking etc.

I reached home by 11:22 pm, and then suprising he said-"Phir Milenge!" I remembered this somewhat similar phrase being said by SRK in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi..."Phir Milenege, Chalte,Chalte.. and he seems to have been inspired by that.