Migrant taxi drivers: A tale of hope, struggle and aspirations in the city of Auckland
New Zealand is an immigrant nation that has been formed and built upon the immigration, which brings migrants from different parts of the world who contribute to New Zealand society and economy.
However, the attitudes and responses of the average New Zealanders towards all migrants are not same and have been a subject of the ongoing political discourse of the day.
Recently, some of the new migrant workers perceived to be doing low-skilled jobs have come under a scanner resulting in a call for purging immigration numbers.
According to a prominent Immigration lawyer, most of the noises in the current immigration debate are rooted in growing public resentment against the most visible section of migrant workers such as restaurants, petrol stations, and dairy stores etc, which can now conveniently be clubbed as "low-skilled workers."
In addition to this, recently New Zealand Herald reported a survey that boisterously stated that Indian migrants were the "least happy" group of migrants in New Zealand behind the migrant from the United States (US).
In response to this changing discourse around immigration in New Zealand and the question mark on the "emotional health" of Indian migrants in New Zealand, Indian Weekender took a plunge to probe further.
Towards this endeavour, Indian Weekender took a microscopic view of the taxi industry to throw some light on some of the individual human stories around migration and happiness of migrant communities.
Taxis of a city have incredible stories to tell.
Just like sampling the cuisine of a place, travelling in a local taxi can give an insight into the culture of that particular place. Similarly, apart from an insight of the culture of the city where they operate, taxi drivers have human stories of hope, despair and aspirations to share with everyone.
The stories become more interesting and compelling when the sample is of - migrant taxi drivers - people who chose to drive taxis in distant lands driven by various motivations and situations in their individual life.
For some of our globetrotting fellow residents, the sight of 'migrant taxi drivers' lined up in queues, especially late in the night, waiting to serve customers seeking help to be transported to their respective destinations is not an uncommon experience.
In fact, depending on the geographical and economic size of the city, especially in the global-west, chances are that such a sight of 'migrant taxi drivers' is becoming more a norm, than an exception.
Be it the London's iconic Black Cabs or New York city's Yellow Cabs, or it is the sight of taxis in big cities in our own backyard like Sydney and Melbourne, 'migrant drivers' operating different taxi services in the major world cities, especially in the Anglospheric world, are a new social reality of our contemporary world.
The sight of long queues of migrant taxi drivers in Auckland super city is another way of reminding everyone about Auckland's growing size and diversity and the role immigration plays in defining the contemporary Auckland.
How important are migrant drivers for the taxi industry?
Speaking with Indian Weekender John Hartz, Executive Director NZ Taxi Federation acknowledges the value migrant drivers bring to the taxi industry.
"Migrants, especially Indian, have been very important for the taxi industry throughout New Zealand," Mr Hartz asserted.
"For most of the migrant taxi drivers, the main objective is to provide an education for their children and the real benefit to New Zealand comes from the next generation, who get professional qualifications and make very significant contributions to the economy," Mr Hartz added.
How is the experience behind wheels in a distant land?
Like everywhere else in life, not everyone behind the taxi wheels has the same start.
While many have gradually drifted into the job after exhausting their efforts in finding something else meaningful, many have chosen the career deliberately driven by the flexibility, the opportunity to work hard and make a reasonable and a dignified living.
Similarly, some were more articulate than others, in clearly evaluating their experience of driving taxis in Auckland.
Indian weekender's question about the experience of driving taxis was often met with bewilderment, with most of the drivers initially struggling to find words to describe their experience crisply.
Not everyone starts driving taxis out of sense of compromise
Jignesh Patel from Gujarat has been driving taxi since last few years after initially arriving New Zealand on a student visa studying Diploma in Business Management.
He drifted into taxi driving after working some time for good brands such as Coca-Cola in pursuit of better flexibility and being his own boss at work.
"I started this job couple of years ago after there was some problem in my previous job.
"I liked taxi driving as it gives you lot of flexibility and the opportunity to be your own boss," Mr Patel said.
Similarly, another thirty-some driver from Punjab who wanted to be known only as "Vishu" have been driving taxis since last two years.
As many other taxi-drivers to which Indian Weekender got an opportunity to speak with his favourite topic was about the impact on Uber on the earning potential of taxi drivers and their accompanied resentment towards the perceived absence of appropriate regulation of the Uber drivers.
However, that was not the main theme of Indian Weekender's interaction with these migrant taxi drivers.
Mr Patel and Vishu paused a bit in response to the question if they were "happy" with their current job before hesitatingly agreeing that they were "happy."
Nevertheless, their sense of self-esteem and pride became evident as soon as we asked them if they do realise the great work they do in keeping Aucklanders moving day and night.
Pat came the nod, followed with a childlike enthusiasm about the "job" they do.
"Yes, we definitely take a pride in taking people home safely every night," Vishu affirmed.
Meet the "couple taxi drivers" in the community
Although, meeting couples working in the same profession or business is not an exception, however meeting a couple driving taxis and willing to share their stories with everyone does not happen very often.
Sunitha and Jagan Reddy have in between them a 24-year combined experience of driving taxis on the Auckland roads.
The husband Jagan Reddy has done most of the taxi driving for around 20 years with wife Sunitha starting to drive taxis since last four years.
A mother of a university going son and a teenager daughter who finished her year 12 recently, Mrs Reddy had every sense of contentment of doing taxi job.
"I started full-time taxi driving about four years ago after I was inspired by my husband to do so.
"Before that, I was doing school runs whereby dropping children to schools," Mrs Reddy said.
However, it's not surprising that Sunitha and Jagan, like many other migrant taxi drivers in the industry, did have an altogether different work experience back from their country of origin.
Sunitha was a schoolteacher by training and meandered into this taxi-driving job after being unsuccessful in securing a job in the same industry in New Zealand. Jagan was a lawyer and multiple-business owner back in India before migrating to New Zealand in the skilled migration category.
Nevertheless, that does not belittle their "enthusiasm and sense of satisfaction" with the job.
Jagan rose to become Chairman of a South Auckland based taxi company Taxi-United and cherishes his job thoroughly.
"I enjoy driving taxi, meeting and talking to new people every day.
"Not everyone who comes from India has an unassuming background.
"I was working as a lawyer and owned multiple family businesses before coming to New Zealand...[and] I am happy with my current situation," Mr Reddy asserted in the end.
New Zealand is an immigrant nation that has been formed and built upon the immigration, which brings migrants from different parts of the world who contribute to New Zealand society and economy.
However, the attitudes and responses of the average New Zealanders towards all migrants are not same...
New Zealand is an immigrant nation that has been formed and built upon the immigration, which brings migrants from different parts of the world who contribute to New Zealand society and economy.
However, the attitudes and responses of the average New Zealanders towards all migrants are not same and have been a subject of the ongoing political discourse of the day.
Recently, some of the new migrant workers perceived to be doing low-skilled jobs have come under a scanner resulting in a call for purging immigration numbers.
According to a prominent Immigration lawyer, most of the noises in the current immigration debate are rooted in growing public resentment against the most visible section of migrant workers such as restaurants, petrol stations, and dairy stores etc, which can now conveniently be clubbed as "low-skilled workers."
In addition to this, recently New Zealand Herald reported a survey that boisterously stated that Indian migrants were the "least happy" group of migrants in New Zealand behind the migrant from the United States (US).
In response to this changing discourse around immigration in New Zealand and the question mark on the "emotional health" of Indian migrants in New Zealand, Indian Weekender took a plunge to probe further.
Towards this endeavour, Indian Weekender took a microscopic view of the taxi industry to throw some light on some of the individual human stories around migration and happiness of migrant communities.
Taxis of a city have incredible stories to tell.
Just like sampling the cuisine of a place, travelling in a local taxi can give an insight into the culture of that particular place. Similarly, apart from an insight of the culture of the city where they operate, taxi drivers have human stories of hope, despair and aspirations to share with everyone.
The stories become more interesting and compelling when the sample is of - migrant taxi drivers - people who chose to drive taxis in distant lands driven by various motivations and situations in their individual life.
For some of our globetrotting fellow residents, the sight of 'migrant taxi drivers' lined up in queues, especially late in the night, waiting to serve customers seeking help to be transported to their respective destinations is not an uncommon experience.
In fact, depending on the geographical and economic size of the city, especially in the global-west, chances are that such a sight of 'migrant taxi drivers' is becoming more a norm, than an exception.
Be it the London's iconic Black Cabs or New York city's Yellow Cabs, or it is the sight of taxis in big cities in our own backyard like Sydney and Melbourne, 'migrant drivers' operating different taxi services in the major world cities, especially in the Anglospheric world, are a new social reality of our contemporary world.
The sight of long queues of migrant taxi drivers in Auckland super city is another way of reminding everyone about Auckland's growing size and diversity and the role immigration plays in defining the contemporary Auckland.
How important are migrant drivers for the taxi industry?
Speaking with Indian Weekender John Hartz, Executive Director NZ Taxi Federation acknowledges the value migrant drivers bring to the taxi industry.
"Migrants, especially Indian, have been very important for the taxi industry throughout New Zealand," Mr Hartz asserted.
"For most of the migrant taxi drivers, the main objective is to provide an education for their children and the real benefit to New Zealand comes from the next generation, who get professional qualifications and make very significant contributions to the economy," Mr Hartz added.
How is the experience behind wheels in a distant land?
Like everywhere else in life, not everyone behind the taxi wheels has the same start.
While many have gradually drifted into the job after exhausting their efforts in finding something else meaningful, many have chosen the career deliberately driven by the flexibility, the opportunity to work hard and make a reasonable and a dignified living.
Similarly, some were more articulate than others, in clearly evaluating their experience of driving taxis in Auckland.
Indian weekender's question about the experience of driving taxis was often met with bewilderment, with most of the drivers initially struggling to find words to describe their experience crisply.
Not everyone starts driving taxis out of sense of compromise
Jignesh Patel from Gujarat has been driving taxi since last few years after initially arriving New Zealand on a student visa studying Diploma in Business Management.
He drifted into taxi driving after working some time for good brands such as Coca-Cola in pursuit of better flexibility and being his own boss at work.
"I started this job couple of years ago after there was some problem in my previous job.
"I liked taxi driving as it gives you lot of flexibility and the opportunity to be your own boss," Mr Patel said.
Similarly, another thirty-some driver from Punjab who wanted to be known only as "Vishu" have been driving taxis since last two years.
As many other taxi-drivers to which Indian Weekender got an opportunity to speak with his favourite topic was about the impact on Uber on the earning potential of taxi drivers and their accompanied resentment towards the perceived absence of appropriate regulation of the Uber drivers.
However, that was not the main theme of Indian Weekender's interaction with these migrant taxi drivers.
Mr Patel and Vishu paused a bit in response to the question if they were "happy" with their current job before hesitatingly agreeing that they were "happy."
Nevertheless, their sense of self-esteem and pride became evident as soon as we asked them if they do realise the great work they do in keeping Aucklanders moving day and night.
Pat came the nod, followed with a childlike enthusiasm about the "job" they do.
"Yes, we definitely take a pride in taking people home safely every night," Vishu affirmed.
Meet the "couple taxi drivers" in the community
Although, meeting couples working in the same profession or business is not an exception, however meeting a couple driving taxis and willing to share their stories with everyone does not happen very often.
Sunitha and Jagan Reddy have in between them a 24-year combined experience of driving taxis on the Auckland roads.
The husband Jagan Reddy has done most of the taxi driving for around 20 years with wife Sunitha starting to drive taxis since last four years.
A mother of a university going son and a teenager daughter who finished her year 12 recently, Mrs Reddy had every sense of contentment of doing taxi job.
"I started full-time taxi driving about four years ago after I was inspired by my husband to do so.
"Before that, I was doing school runs whereby dropping children to schools," Mrs Reddy said.
However, it's not surprising that Sunitha and Jagan, like many other migrant taxi drivers in the industry, did have an altogether different work experience back from their country of origin.
Sunitha was a schoolteacher by training and meandered into this taxi-driving job after being unsuccessful in securing a job in the same industry in New Zealand. Jagan was a lawyer and multiple-business owner back in India before migrating to New Zealand in the skilled migration category.
Nevertheless, that does not belittle their "enthusiasm and sense of satisfaction" with the job.
Jagan rose to become Chairman of a South Auckland based taxi company Taxi-United and cherishes his job thoroughly.
"I enjoy driving taxi, meeting and talking to new people every day.
"Not everyone who comes from India has an unassuming background.
"I was working as a lawyer and owned multiple family businesses before coming to New Zealand...[and] I am happy with my current situation," Mr Reddy asserted in the end.
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