Indian Summer Festival: taxi drivers share stories from the cab
Pavit Nagra will take part as a panelist at the Indian Summer Festival
Like many people in their early 20s, Vancouverite Pavit Nagra's favourite nights of the week are Fridays and Saturdays — or club nights, as he calls them.
Not because he's out partying with friends, but because as a cab driver, he enjoys driving those clubbers to and from downtown.
"It's weird for them to see a guy so young — I'm only 22," Nagra told On the Coast.
"They're like, 'Man, you shouldn't be driving a cab on Friday, Saturday night. You should be on the other side. You should be going to these clubs and stuff.' I'm like, 'Nah. I'm good, driving a cab.'"
Nagra, along with several other people, are part of a panel on Friday called "In the Driver's Seat: Stories from the Cab" at the Indian Summer Festival in Vancouver. The panelists will share their stories of spending many hours navigating the streets of Vancouver and meeting all kinds of passengers.
Though Nagra, who is also a business student at Langara College, has had his fair share of rowdy or rude passengers over the past year, he says the best part of his job is interacting with people who have great stories to share.
"Cab drivers get a bad rep sometimes," he said. "So why I drive a cab is I want to break some of those stigmas, this kind of cab culture that people think about.
"There's more [to it] than just getting into a cab and getting taken from point A to point B. What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to sell you an experience between point A and point B that you can remember."
The Indian Summer Festival runs until July 18.
Listen to the interview: Young taxi driver shares his experience.