A Chance Encounter with a Truck Driver

Why you should talk to strangers...

Hey friends,

Greetings from Ashoka University, India!

Climbing into trucks isn’t something I’d normally do. Yet, last week, I had to.

I was jogging around the agricultural fields next to my university when a thick cloud of smoke appeared in the air. Someone was burning a pile of trash ahead. The noxious odour of charred plastic filled my nostrils, and I slowly backed away.

The road was such that I had to cross it if I wanted to get back to university. The way around would take me 15 km—something I definitely couldn’t walk. 

But I had just finished a 7 km jog, and my lungs were heaving. I was gasping for air, and so walking towards the smoke meant that I’d inhale more than normal.

It was late in the evening. The light was fading from the sky, and the evening breeze was picking up. I had to decide fast.

As I stood there, paralysed by indecision, a truck slowly rolled by. The driver and I made eye contact, and somehow, he knew. 

He rolled down his window and, in a thick Haryanvi accent, asked, “Do you want a ride?” (in Hindi).

What followed was a fascinating exchange where I climbed into the truck's passenger seat and began chatting with the driver. He asked me where I was from. When I said Bangalore, I was surprised to see him inquire about specifics. I would have never guessed that a truck driver in a rural part of Haryana would have travelled all the way to Bangalore, a good 2000 km away!

The driver dove into his life story. He parked the truck outside my university, and we chatted for more than an hour. The details of the encounter will stay private, but that interaction reflected something I’ve learnt in my travels across India:

People, no matter where they are from, just want to share their stories with others. They simply want someone to listen to them. You could be a complete stranger (as I was to him). That doesn’t matter. Everywhere, people just seek connection. 

It was this learning that inspired my project “Heroes in a 100 Faces”, where I compiled 100 portraits from across India and wrote about my experience talking to those people. You can check that out here.

My challenge for you is this: Try and strike up a conversation with a stranger. You’ll be surprised by what it teaches you. 

Postcard

The driver asked me to take a photo of him. I didn’t tell him I was a photographer; he somehow knew. I shot this on my phone.

Favourite Quote

Get inside the heads of the people who made things in the past and what they were actually like, and then realize that they’re not that different from you. At the time they got started, they were kind of just like you … so there’s nothing stopping any of the rest of us from doing the same thing. - Marc Andreessen

Have a creative, wild and inspiring week!

If you’re new, welcome to The Owlet! My name is Ishan Shanavas, and I am an Artist, Photographer, Writer and Student of the Natural World.

Here I talk about my work, along with curating the most interesting ideas on the internet. I confine them to topics like Nature, Culture, Photography, and Art but often fall prey to other genres.

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