Target to meet

He has a target of forty five trips to be done in three days. In a good week he could do sixty. In the last three it was hard to reach even forty. This has kept him on the road and respond to those dead-of-the-night trips to the airport.

Seriously worried for this Uber driver. He drove almost asleep losing sense of lanes and of speed. Figures that his foot goes heavy on the accelerator when he dozed off. We do 100 kmph with the lane markers blurring for him. Shpuld one be appalled at the sight of drivers like him who are victims of the economic order and tech innovation that consumes such young men or be proud of having a cab arrive at the flick of a thumb, at the doorstep. These cabbies are sleeping at our doorsteps. It is no gain to do the airport rides he says. The toll fee is substantial.

I am worried that his targets make him drive gripped in senselessness and disorientation of sleep. Tells me I should get married and not waste ‘time and age’. He is. Wife’s away to her parents, he says.

The app beeps and severes our brief association as we arrive at the destination.