More Shantaram

This time about Mumbai's cabbies...

But an Indian will be so pleased that if he likes something else about you - your eyes, or your smile, or the way you react to a beggar at the window of his cab - he'll feel bonded to you, instantly. he'll be prepared to do things for you, go out of his way, put himself at risk, and even do dangerous or illegal things. If you have given him an address he doesn't like, such as the Palace, he'll be prepared to wait for you, just to be sure that you are safe. You could come out an hour later, and ignore him completely, and he would smile and drive away, happy to know that no harm had come to you. It happened to me many times in Bombay, but never in any other (foreign) city. It's one of the five hundred things I love about Indians: if they like you, they do it quickly, and not by half. Karla paid his fare and the promised tip, and told him not to wait. We both knew that he would.