The People I Meet – Every Ride Leads Somewhere
A Friday evening cab ride across Bombay, a third-year engineering student behind the wheel, and cruising down a great conversation.
It was a Friday evening, the worst day and time to do a road trip halfway across the city. But it was a special day, and there was a dinner on the calendar. We booked a cab, and got the wheels on the road around 7:30 PM. I was riding shotgun, and was on a work call for 20 minutes, from the time I got in. We had a good 75 minutes more to go.
The Discovery
I had logged into the call through my phone, and I had immediately pulled out my laptop after the call, to send out some follow-up notes. While I was at it, I dashed off some responses to a few other messages. Once done, I shut my laptop, and the cabbie asked me a question that no one has ever asked me before—‘Do you have a reading disability?’
I went, ‘I have a visual disability, not a reading disability.’ He then explained that he has dyslexia, and he asked that question because he could hear my screen reader through my earphones—call it a public nuisance on my part. He wanted to understand more about screen readers that could be of use to him, given his condition. He went on to explain that wherever there’s access to the internet, there’s no problem as there are quite a few browser plug-ins and apps that are useful. The challenge was when there was no internet or Wi-Fi connectivity, and he had to work offline.
My partner, who’s a special educator by qualification, stepped in to suggest a few ideas, and we guided him to contact the Xavier’s Resource Center for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC), which started as a resource and advocacy centre for visual disabilities, but further branched off to support all kinds of disabilities—they would not only have updated knowledge on the latest apps and solutions, but they would also have training courses to build necessary skills. We then got chatting about AI, and how the natural language conversation is way better than static screen reader voices. I then broke down the use cases of a screen reader, and an AI LLM. The former is tasked with communicating, helping you do your work. The latter is built as a conversational interface, helping you get the work done. The static, machine-like delivery of a screen reader and the natural modulation of an AI voice each reflect that difference in how they were envisioned and built. I won’t be surprised if traditional screen readers also evolve with a three-way conversational interface—speech-to-text, speech-to-speech, text-to-speech. He wasn’t a fan of the screen reader voices, and found them too synthetic to retain his attention.
The Business Model
He was a third-year engineering student from one of the premier engineering institutions in Bombay. His college hours are from 7:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and he drives an Uber Black for the rest of the day, and full-time over the weekends. He had started a side venture with a couple of friends, building AI and IoT solutions for small-to-mid-scale manufacturers. I got very excited, and we got chatting on the different revenue streams, how they store data, and what upstream services they can unlock once they have an MVP going. It reminded me of the early days of this Larsen & Toubro story that I’d worked on.
His rationale for choosing the ‘Uber Black’ segment vs others was very interesting. He looked at it as a networking platform for his business. He had picked up his first two clients through Uber rides, along with a supplier in China for some of the sensors. It was great to see how he was wiring his network, which a lot of people would think of doing, when they’re fresh off an MBA course, or thrown into a long corporate shower.
The Long Way Home
He was very engaged in our conversation, so much so that he was willing to drive down the same distance across the city, to pick us up after our dinner. However, we took another cab back, because our original cabbie was too far away by the time we left. The Uber algorithm didn’t push for more engagement, but I kept replaying the conversation on the drive home. I’ve had many conversations where people would either have an over-the-top outpouring of inspirational grace, or be curious about what I do, and how I go about it. This felt different. Beyond his hustle and differentiated thinking, what struck me was that he didn’t hesitate to ask, was eager to learn, patient to listen, and showed intent to explore. The traffic was steady through our journey, but the conversation made the theory of relativity feel real.
Listen Up
Ventura Highway by America, from their 1972 album, Homecoming. The song that always puts a smile on my face. Maybe it’s the pleasant guitar harmony at the start, or it’s just the easy lyrics taking you down the scenic landscapes.
You can check out my Trove Of Tunes—a curated Spotify playlist, here.
Cheers,
Shri