Driver Stories

Our driver Vijay and his brother Ashok both work in the same layout. In fact, Vijay was referred to us through his brother who works as a driver for a friend of ours. Both are in the their mid-twenties, unmarried and live with their older married brother. Ok probably more information than you care to know. This is where it gets amusing. They both need to be at work at the same time. Our friend's son also attends the same school as Rushil and Sindhu so the drop-off and pick-up times are the same. Everyday, I see Vijay walk to our house in the morning and a few minutes later, his brother drives up on his motorcycle in no particular hurry even though the bus is turning the corner and we're all waiting for him to bring our friend's son. Prasad and I just don't get why Vijay and Ashok don't come together. Prasad went as far asking Vijay why that is and Vijay just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Vijay is quite the character. Initially, I was little uncomfortable with how quiet he was as it was difficult to read him. He will only respond with monosyllabic answers so most of the time I have no idea what he is saying. I have to ask him to repeat himself most of the time. Other times, I'll ask him to bring us somewhere and I'm not sure if he has heard me or not because he doesn't respond. In the mornings, there are no hellos and in the evenings no goodbyes. He is just too shy to exchange pleasantries so now I've settled into this routine with him where I only communicate when needed. On multiple occasions when he is driving us, he'll run into a friend of his on the road who will be frantically waving at him to get his attention, and he'll pretend as if he didn't see him. Rushil has tried so hard to be his friend but all he gets is a smile from him. All that aside, he is punctual, reliable, easily accessible, and most importantly a good driver and I only realized this when I went in my friend's cars with their drivers. His family is quite established in the community, if we need an electrician, a painter, a plumber, water supplier, Vijay will have the number handy. We've seen their house and given his brother's 5+ year history with our friends, that gives us additional comfort so he's definitely someone we don't want to let go of easily even with his quirky personality.