Meet Pataabi Raman: The 74-year-old English lecturer turned auto-driver is winning hearts online
He moved to Karnataka at the age of 60 and started working as an auto driver as teachers don’t get paid well there.
New Delhi: Nikita Iyer, a Bengaluru-based researcher underwent a heartwarming experience after she met an auto-driver and documented her enjoyable encounter in a LinkedIn post that eventually went viral. The auto-driver narrated the story of his early life when he was an English lecturer and how he chose his current path. The story is already winning hearts online.
Nikita began with how he met the 74 years old auto-driver, Pataabi Raman. Being stranded on the road on her way to work, she was looking for transport. An elderly man, looking at her confused, stooped his auto and asked her to board in impeccable English. He said, “Please come in, ma’am, you can pay what you want.” Surprised by his gentleman-like behaviour, Nikita took a ride and started talking to her to get satiate her curiosity.
Pataabi revealed that he was an English lecturer at a reputed college in Mumbai’s Powai where he worked for 20 years. However, in Karnataka, he didn’t get a teaching job as the only questions the recruiters asked was about his caste. “The only question he was asked was, ‘What is your caste?’ and when he said his name was Mr. Pataabi Raman, they said, ‘We will let you know.’” wrote Nikita.
He moved to Karnataka at the age of 60 and started working as an auto driver as teachers don’t get paid well there. “Teachers do not get paid well. The maximum you can earn is Rs 10-15,000 and, since it was a private institution, I don’t have a pension. By driving a rickshaw I get at least Rs 700-1500 a day, which is enough for me and my girlfriend,” Pataabi said while laughing.
Pataabi, also explained why he laughed at the “girlfriend” comment. He called his wife his girlfriend because he always wanted to treat her as an equal. “She is my wife, but I call her my girlfriend because you must always treat them as equal. The minute you say wife, husbands think she’s a slave who must serve you, but she is in no way inferior to me. In fact, she is superior to me sometimes. She is 72 and takes care of the house while I work for 9-10 hours a day,” Pataabi added.
See the post here:
Pataabi also told her that he has a son who couples with their rent. “We live in a 1 BHK in Kadugodi where my son helps pay the rent of Rs 12,000, but beyond that, we are not dependent on our children. They live their life and we live ours happily,” he further added.
Nikita concluded by writing, “Not one complaint about life. Not one regret. So much to learn from these hidden heroes. My Thursday morning was made.”
The story of the elderly man is winning hearts online, calling him an inspiration. A user wrote, “God bless you Nikita. Wonderful story and it’s great to hear about such unsung heroes,” another user wrote, “Inspiring. Happy that with good health, he is managing his family’s daily affairs at this age.”
