"Are you a Bihari?"

said the old lady to the cab driver.

As we got out off the cab outside the entrance to Phoenix mills along the road leading to Elphinstone / Dadar, a mother - daughter / mother-in-law - daughter-in-law duo were awaiting a cab to haul their shopping home. The daughter(-in-law) asked the cab driver if he would go to Worli. When he refused, the mother(-in-law) sharply asked him if he was a Bihari.

Her statement was quite surprising and I wondered what his refusal had to do with "where he came from originally". Did she think that a Maharashtrian cab driver would take them to Worli where as a "North-Indian" wouldn't?

I guess I should have asked her if she was from Mumbai... I've never found a cab easily for short distances (Worli naka is 10-15 mins walking distance from Phoenix) much less for going in the opposite direction (again, w.r.t. Worli naka).

Or maybe I should look out only for Maharashtrian cab drivers in the future to take me wherever I want to go, after all, a sweet old lady did imply that a Maharashtrian cab driver ALWAYS takes you where you want to go!

As for the poor cab driver, he dodged the question, telling her that he couldn't take her anywhere because he had to "close shop" for the night in another 10 mins and he was heading to Parel.