Nisar Ahmed... and his Alfaaz

Nisar Ahmed..... the cab driver I happened to meet today.

I get in and say, "Lavelle road", and he's like "Madam ji. mujhe lavaleee road pata nahi hai". So I'm like..."Chaliye, mein dikathi hoon...naye ho kya aap yahaan?"

And that started off this beautiful conversation. He's like " Ji, bas paanch din huye mujhe taxi lekhe"

"Pehle kya karte the?"

"Mein bus chalarahatha...Bangalore se Pune"

"Arre wah, bus ke baad taxi? Kaise? Kaunsa acha lagtha hai?"

"Madam ji, bees saal bus chalaya...hindustan ka kona kona dekh chukha hoon"

"abhi, taxi mein traffic ki tho dikath hoti hai.......... par ghar ke baahar hawa kaane ka mauka miltha hai..........logon se mulaqaath karne ka mauka milta hai......... aur aap jaise behenji ke meete alfaaz sunne ka mauka milta hai"

By then I was floored, as you can imagine :)

Then it figures that his daughter is settled in Perth, Australia. His son is working in Dubai. His wife is headmistress of a school. He's been to Dubai for six months, stayed in Australia for an year, and then he's like..."Watan ki yaad agayi, aur bas chala aya".

"Paise ki kami nahi thi, maasha allah, par retirement ke baad, ghar baite baite bas sofa neeche chalagaya.......aathi hai tho driving, isiliye taxi shuru kiya hai."

I was like .." dhaag dene padegi aap ke sonch ki, mein tho badi kush hoon ki app ne jo soncha, woh kiya"

"Ghar mein kisi kho nahi pasand mera yeh taxi chalana, kehte hain 65 saal hogaye, abhi ghar me aaram kijiye........par batayiye madam ji, meri mann khi qwaish pura hota ghar bhaite?"

I liked him, and his urdu so much, that I was like, "aap ko sunthe sunthe, mujhe tho hyderabad ki yaad aagayi"

(for those who don't speak urdu, apologies, but this is more about the language itself, so not translating)

Ahmed bhai....nostalgia for hyderabad...... and some home sickness.....made this post