Rajendren - our endearing driver

A belated post from Astrid, due to many frustrating Internet problems in India...

Just before piling into the Ambassador where we spent many, many hours together!

Astrid:
Upon arriving in Chennai, we quickly sought out a driver for the next two weeks of our South India trip and were fortunate to meet Rajendren - a smiling, rounded Indian man who arrived at our hotel with his shining white Ambassador. Always willing to help, he was ready to load our heavy luggage into his vehicle with a smile, a gentle Indian sideways nod and a ''no problem, no problem."

Although Rajendren did not own the car, he always made sure to keep it spotless, inside and out

On our first day, our immediate thoughts were to his family - his wife, 13 year old daughter and 7 year old son. What an enormous sacrifice to be away from family for weeks at a time, all for a measly sum of Rs 2000 (AU $60) a month, plus a small allowance of Rs 125 a day (AU $3.65) for driving outside the city limits (this is to cover the cost of his meals and accommodation). He later told us in his cheery broken English, that his rent is Rs 1000 a month and to send his daughter to school was Rs 4000 a year. It once again brought us into reflective discussions and frustration about the many injustices for the hard-working people of this country.

Over the past two weeks, he skillfully handled all the long journeys, negotiating the pothole-filled roads, dodging huge buses and trucks which unpredictably shot out from all directions and narrowly avoided the on-coming motorcycles, rickshaws and cows - all for our "safety and comfort". One of my favourite moments was at a roadside cafe stop, where his joyful love of children really shined. He cuddled a beautiful baby and posed for my camera with his rosy cheeks.

I think I was his favourite though (or the one he thought was the silliest by far of my travelling companions). He'd love all my silly faces, my attempts at the Tamil language and my "Three cheers for Rajendren!" after a particularly long car ride. He would always say to me "Very good girl, very good girl" - much to the amusement of Lorraine, Shanks and Christian, who all thought quite the opposite!

It certainly was a sad farewell to him on Saturday 23rd December before he began his long journey back to Chennai to spend Christmas with his family. We all gave him a big tip and he accepted it with tears welling in his eyes (which subsequently caused tears to well up in mine). When we asked what he'd do with his tip, he said he would buy a nice sari for his wife and chocolates for his children. We asked "What about for yourself?" and he said he was happy with his white uniform and didn't need anything more.

After a slow and sad walk down the stairs of the hotel, we waved him off as his white Ambassador headed through the streets of Mysore towards Chennai.... towards his family once again.