One of those cab men

Being a vehicle-less student in PJ and a former vehicle-less-too intern as a journalist, I have many times taken rides from friendly and conversational taxi drivers.

One such is the cab man (I prefer to call them cab men because it doesn't make them sound so much like chauffeurs) my housemates and I had this morning.

From our brief conversation, we found out that he was 45 years old.

Our conversation went like this:

Cab man:"Kamu semua student?"

We:"Ya."

Cm:"Bila habis belajar?"

(Gee, none of his business la - safety and self-preservation instincts kick in!)

Me:" Ada dua s'tengah tahun lagi ."

Cm:" Oh. Semua sudah ada boyfriend?"

(Oi, what's he thinking? What is it to him whether we're available or not?!)

Me:"Yeah, yeah. Semua sudah ada."

(My friend gave me a look. I lied, only half of us is taken.)

Cm:"Aiya, s'karang tak mau cari boyfriend la. S'karang belajar. Belajar sampai Masters baru keluar cari boyfriend dalam Degree! Hah!"

(OMG. Hahahahhah! What la, this fella!)

We:"LOL"

Cm:"Memang kan? Macam ini baru mereka boleh dengar kamu cakap!"

We:"LOL"

Cm:"S'karang macam ini la. Nasib baik I sudah kahwin masa 21, s'karang sudah 45."

We:"Oh..."

And we talked a little more about people giving more than they should for their cab fares- some student, some tourist he had recently.

Cm:"Itu hari satu student, lapan ringgit dia bagi dua puluh. I tak ambil. I cakap itu duit bukan dia punya, bapa dia punya. I pun ambil lapan ringgit sahaja."

To believe or not to believe? Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, he was a tad more feminist than one of my housemates and me!

Then we're off at PC block (the block I study in) and we paid RM3, as the meter says. We're not going to waste our parents' money unnecessarily too.