80-year-old Kolkata cabbie tells passengers to ‘pay whatever you think is fair’
An 80-year-old Kolkata taxi driver has won admiration online for telling passengers to pay what they can afford, despite his own financial struggles.
Despite working 16-hour days and struggling to make ends meet, 80-year-old Kolkata taxi driver Rabindranath Sarkar reportedly tells his passengers to pay whatever they think is fair — a gesture that has struck a chord with thousands of people online after content creator Chaitali Bose shared his story in a video.
Sarkar has been driving taxis for more than five decades, according to Bose, and even now his day starts around 6 am and can stretch until 11 pm. The taxi he drives isn’t his own; he rents it each day, meaning a slow shift can leave him with almost nothing after covering the rental cost.
He and his 67-year-old wife live in a small tin-roofed house near the railway tracks in Dum Dum, with no children to rely on, and every expense depends on what he earns that day. Both are dealing with health issues — Sarkar has chronic asthma, and his wife has a heart condition — making the cost of medicines a constant pressure.
The video has been widely shared, with viewers calling Sarkar’s story both inspiring and difficult to watch. Bose ended the clip with an appeal for viewers to help the elderly couple, whose leaking tin roof during monsoon season remains an unaffordable repair.
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