Of Taxi Drivers...

Ever heard of a saying that 'you can learn anything from anyone'. I believe that there's a Chinese proverb which has a slightly similar meaning to it - 三人行必有我师 which if loosely translated, means that in a group of three people, you will surely learn something from one of them.

Back to the topic on taxi drivers - when I travel on the routes of Penang-KL-Penang during long weekends, I usually will take the taxi to the bus station near the old KTM station. Normally, the taxi drivers on Fridays do not talk much, they are too occupied with traffic jams and stuff to pay attention to anything else. However, the same cannot be said for the journey from the bus station back to IPBA. Somehow, the taxi drivers are more communicative and share a lot of what they know, or it might be simply because they like to talk.

Among the conversations I still keep in mind:

Sometime last year...
Taxi driver 1: Awak nak jadi cikgu ke? Mana boleh...awak pandai senyum macam tu, nanti murid-murid semua tak takut pada you...(Are you going to become a teacher? How can you become one...you smile too much - the students will not be afraid of you.)
Me: Aiya, tak apa ma...I keluar nanti ajar sekolah menengah, bukan sekolah rendah...(Aiya, it's okay. I will teach in a secondary school when I come out, not a primary school)
TD 1: Aa..bukan macam tu. Tengok, even anak saya kecil, tahun satu saja, da tahu buli cikgu. Lagi tua lagi teruk budak-budak zaman ini. Nanti you masuk sekolah, senyum senyum lagi, mesti kena buli mia...(Aa...it's not like that. See, even my standard one kid already knows how to bully a teacher *LOL* the older they get, the worse they are. If you go smiling in schools, you will surely be bullied by your students...
Me:...

Maybe I should tape my facial muscles in the future when I'm teaching in schools...just to keep from smiling? =x

Sometime last year too...
Me: Saya nak pergi Stadium Hoki UM. (I want to go to the UM Hockey Stadium *the landmark for IPBA's hostel location)
TD2: Mana you nak pergi? (Where do you want to go?)
Me: Stadium Hoki UM...
TD2: (Impatiently) Nak pergi UM ke maktab? (Do you want to go to UM or the teachers training institute?)
Me: (intimidated) Maktab... >_<>(Next time, just say that 'I want to go to the Lembah Pantai Teachers Training Institute)
Me: Tapi selalu I cakap macam tu, taxi driver tak tahu kat mana...(But everytime I say that, the taxi drivers do not know where to go)
TD2: Diorang saja kot, tak nak ambil, cakaplah tak tahu kat mana...
Me: Owh...ye ke?
TD2: You nak jadi cikgu kan? Kalau orang tak tahu, you tak bagi tahu, macam mana orang nak tahu kelak? Kalau you cakap terus, Maktab Perguruan Lembah Pantai ini dekat dengan UM...macam salesman nak promote produk, pun kena bagi tahu orang lain, kebaikan produk ini, kena buat advertise semua itu kan? (he started talking about promoting and advertising...though I can't really see the connection)
Me: *Nods*
TD2: Satu lagi. Jadi cikgu ini, tak boleh cakap bohong...nanti anak-anak murid semua ikut. Betul tak? (One more thing, if you are going to become a teacher, you cannot tell lies, if not your students might follow your example. Am I right?)
Me: *Nods again, speechless* (What did I do???)

The conversation continued in this vein for the rest of the journey. Turns out that he's just giving a lecture, feeling that it's his duty as a citizen to talk some sense into future teachers. According to him, one of his best friends is also a teacher, and that's where he learned all these lecturing stuff xD

Earlier this year, I met a Sikh taxi driver that tried to persuade me to go to church =.="

Just now, I met another Indian taxi driver, who says that he's a vegetarian, and has to take care of his thinking, words and actions as a result. He commented on other taxi drivers that will not hesitate to charge exorbitant fees to get you to your destination, just because the economy is not faring so well currently. According to him, they are too selfish, as everyone has their own financial problems, and forcing someone else to share your burden is just...o_O

Ah, and he says that the world will become a better place if everyone is a vegetarian - 'we are supposed to protect the animals, not kill them for food.' At this rate, the world will end in ten years...

What happened to 2012?