Its goin to be awright
For those fretting about the economy, the hardships of the oncoming recession, Wall Street and the multitude of today's problems, I thought I should share words of optimism that I got from ERic the cab driver on my recent trip to Atlanta.
Eric is originally from Ghana and drove me from Dunwoody to Roswell in Atlanta. The Dow had just taken a hit that Wednesday for 400 points...It was on the news. Eric tried to cheer me up.
"Don't worry maan. Obama goin to fix it. Smart as hell. Got the best advisors maan."
I added my point of view, just to challenge the optimism, "I felt that Hillary was a better candidate compared to Obama in the primaries. Look how good we got it under Bill Clinton."
"Ooh no. Obama the best maan. Nobody near him. Black, white or brown." said the cab driver. "Its goin to be awright."
"I don't know maan," I said lazily, "Maybe its same-same like Bush times after a little while. Economy is real bad - will take more than a few speeches to bring it up."
ERic conceded, "You India people smart. But this is what I always say, Its goin to be awright."
We got talking: Eric's family is still in Ghana and he visits every two years once he has saved up enough for the trip and gifts.He has two children, one in college. He works his heart out every day six days a week. I am a little concerned that he might be taking me on a slightly longer route to pocket extra fare. He reads my mind, "Don't worry baas. Destination coming. Fixed price - thirty dollars."
As he lets me off, he says, "If you done early and have some other place to go, I will wait."
When I come out it has been almost an hour with the client. "Marta train station," I tell him. I have a return ticket to the airport from Dunwoody station.
"You goin Yairpote(Airport)??...I take you there for steep discount for my Indian friend.
"How much?" I ask cautiously.
"Thirty on way up from Dunwoody to Roswell. twenty five for wait and seventy five for trip to yairpote. Why you want to take trains and stress yourself."
That is way over my budget...I protest. ERic the cab driver tries to overcome my objections."Okay I cut you another break. Give me One hundered and fifteen totaal eh. You fill in the receipt whichever way you like."
The radio is blaring out the latest latest decline - the Dow has gone down another fifty. However Eric has already made up my mind for me...the cab is proceeding on the way to the 'yairpote.'
Flashing a toothy grin of pearly whites, he states for the one-hundredth time, "Don't worry maan. Its goin to be awright."
Posted at 09:54PM Nov 15, 2008 by ravi in General | Comments[0]