Woman Shares Story About A Bangalore Autorickshaw Driver Who Used To Be An English Lecturer

A woman named Nikita Iyer, who is a professional working in Bangalore, was on her way to work one day. But she was stranded on the middle of the highway by her Uber auto. She was worried and it showed on her face. However, another local autorickshaw driver stopped his vehicle near her and asked where she wanted to go.

After she told him that she was running late for office which was located at the other end of the city, the autorickshaw driver responded in proper English, “Please come in Ma’am, you can pay what you want.”

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According to NDTV, the next 45-minutes of her auto ride gave her a memory of a lifetime! The autorickshaw driver was a 74-year-old man named Pataabi Raman. He used to be a lecturer in English back in the day in Mumbai and used to work in a private educational institute in Powai. His salary was less and since it was a private institute, he didn’t receive a pension either.

He has a MA and an M.Ed degree. He was unable to find work in Karnataka because of his caste, which is why he decided to go to Mumbai. As luck would have it, he found a job in the city of dreams. After he retired, he came back to Bangalore. He began driving an autorickshaw and has been doing so for the past 14 years as he earns a solid living.

“Teachers do not get paid well. The maximum you can earn is 10-15,000/- and since it was a private institution, I don’t have pension. By driving a rickshaw I get at least 700-1500/- a day which enough for me and my girlfriend,” he said.

By “girlfriend”, he meant his wife and he has a reason why he calls her so.

“She is my wife but I call her my girlfriend because you must always treat them as equal. The minute you say wife, husbands think she’s a slave who must serve you but she is in no way inferior to me, in fact she is superior to me sometimes. She is 72 and takes care of the house while I work for 9-10 hours a day. We live in a 1 BHK in Kadugodi where my son helps pay the rent of 12,000/- but beyond that, we are not dependent on our children. They live their life and we live ours happily. Now I am the Raja of my road, I can take my auto out any time I want and work when I want.”

Inspired by his story, Nikita wrote, “Not one complaint about life. Not one regret. So much to learn from these hidden heroes.”

She took to LinkedIn to post the entire story. Have a look:

Mr. Prataabi Raman is indeed incredible. To more heroes from the streets of India!

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