The Rickshaw Ride That Changed Everything
by 🧑‍🚀 Samay Anand on Tue Jun 17 2025
It was a Tuesday morning like any other, except for the fact that I was already running late. Mumbai’s traffic, as usual, was determined to make me even later. I flagged down the first rickshaw I saw, a battered yellow-and-black beauty with a sticker on the back that read, “Horn OK Please.”
“Bandra Station,” I said, sliding into the seat. The driver, a wiry man with a twinkle in his eye and a mustache that could rival any Bollywood villain, nodded and revved the engine. We lurched into the chaos of the city.
As we zigzagged through the lanes, dodging buses, cows, and the occasional overenthusiastic cyclist, I noticed the driver humming an old Kishore Kumar tune. Suddenly, he turned to me and said, “Saab, do you believe in destiny?”
Before I could answer, a stray dog darted in front of us. The rickshaw swerved, narrowly missing a pani puri vendor, and came to a screeching halt. My heart was in my mouth. The driver grinned. “See? Mumbai always has a plan.”
We resumed our journey, but fate wasn’t done with us yet. At the next signal, a woman in a saree flagged us down. “Bhaiyya, Dadar drop karoge?” she asked. The driver looked at me. I shrugged. “The more, the merrier.”
Now, with three of us squeezed into the back, the rickshaw felt like a party on wheels. The woman turned out to be a stand-up comic, and soon, the driver and I were in stitches as she recounted her latest gig gone wrong. Laughter echoed over the honking horns.
Just as we were catching our breath, the rickshaw sputtered and stopped. Out of petrol. The driver sheepishly pointed to a small bottle under his seat. “Reserve, saab!” He poured the contents into the tank, gave the rickshaw a loving pat, and off we went again.
By the time we reached Bandra Station, I was twenty minutes late but strangely exhilarated. The driver winked. “Sometimes, the detours are the real journey.”
I paid the fare, waved goodbye to my new friends, and stepped onto the platform with a smile. In Mumbai, even a simple rickshaw ride can change everything.