Uber Stories -2

Last Saturday afternoon I call for Uber to get a ride from Penn Station in Manhattan to my apartment in Queens. It is 25-30 minutes ride and I usual spend the time chatting with the driver. Every driver has an interesting story to tell and the part of the world they come from.

This one was from Pakistan. After a bit of small talk, he tells me that he is from a place near Lahore in Pakistan. I thought he is like rest of the immigrants living with his family in Queens and plying taxi in Manhattan to make a living. Nope. He works 4-6 months driving Uber and then goes back to his family in Pakistan to live for 2 months and then comes back to drive Uber again. So travels back and forth between US and Pakistan twice or thrice a year.

His expenses are like this:

• He doesn't own a car. He rents it when he is in US and drives it for Uber. He pays $500/month rental on the car. 
• Apartment expense $500-600/month
• Not sure how much on gas/petrol
• Eats out in restaurant and so does not cook. Dinning out $200/month
• Buys his cloths and stuff in Pakistan. Does not take gifts from US
• He saves about $2-3k/month after taxes and sending money home. After saving about $10k in savings he heads for home in Pakistan.

He has four kids from 9 months old to 14 years old. His brothers and mother live with his family. They are not well to do. He holds American passport but never brought his family to US. His wife doesn't want to come because she is an orthodox muslim in a burqa all the time. He also wants his kids to learn Islam and muslim way of life in Pakistan. He hopes to bring his children for higher education to US. They attend english medium schools in Pakistan.

I asked how he got his US citizenship. He was vague about it. He claims he was in US in early 1990s driving cab in Manhattan and got his green card and then the citizenship in lottery or something. 

This is a growing trend among many skilled and unskilled people around the world. This is called on-demand economy. Companies like Uber are making it possible for people who have spare time and a vehicle to make a quick buck and then withdraw into their private life. Most Uber drivers in non-metro areas in US are well educated and well to do who wants to make few bucks during their idle time and spend taking their wife or girl friend out for a good dinner. Their income is taxed. This on-demand services are allowing people with spare time to do tasks for others like running errands (taskrabbit.com), doing groceries/shopping.

This growing trend will change the way we will work and live. In my previous blogs I showed how taxi drivers in India are able to find more clients, make more money and became entrepreneurial using Uber. The Indian driver I wrote about lifted his monthly salary from Rs 5-6k to Rs 20k. That is a four fold increase. He is now thinking of buying cars and use them for Uber. He hates Meeru with whom he used work for before.

With the rise of Uber and Lyft (Uber's competition), I am even considering not to replace my aging car. Once my kids move out of the house, it is best to move to urban area with good public transportation and use Uber kind of services when necessary rather than spend tons buying a car, maintaining it and paying insurance.

Our current model of having to work full time, monthly fixed salary, and limited vacation/spare time, does not give us the flexibility to pursue our interests. Between 2006 and 2011 I pursued the same model of basing my family in India and I traveling back to US for business/work. Professional life is good US but not personal life. Life is in India, in spite of traffic, pollution, roads, and people is still relaxing. I could pick many hobbies when in India such as sketching, water color painting, chess. I started to play golf, travel around, catchup with India movies, music, friends, and books. I had art tutors come to my house and give me one-on-one classes. Festivals in India is true festivals. It is not something you celebrate on a weekend. The same with birthdays. I can enjoy the music concerts in India.

Here is a picture of cricket game in progress in the township I live.

Life in US has its own pluses - infrastructure, professional satisfaction, recreational facilities, intellectual growth,  cultural and intellectual exposure - good radio, TV programs (PBS), concerts, museums, libraries, books, universities, conversations, debates. But life in US is expensive - the insurances (car, house,flood, umbrella, health, ...), education, travel, hobbies, housing, car expenses. So to live in US one has to make a decent salary and for a decent salary one has to have a job, and to have such a job you have to stress yourself out that you don't have to in India.

So how is it possible to get the best of both worlds? My pakistani Uber driver figured it out. Live in both countries and get a piece of both worlds. How? Here is how I did it for last 8 years.

My family was in India living in Hyderabad. India gave me a stable base, decent education for my kids, a society to keep an eye on the children, gave them the Indian roots, was at home for every major festivals, visited relatives and childhood friends regularly. Attended numerous weddings.

Expenses in India are minimal. Excluding your housing and school fees, it costs about Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100k) per month to have the top 1% of the population life style in India. For that expense you can maintain two cars, a driver, a live-in maid, eat twice or more a month in the best restaurants in town, travel to visit parents, host parties, take care of NRIs who visit, etc.

I would travel to US for professional work. I had a car but there is no need for one if you live in a metro places like New York (It is 3 months since I touched my car as I live in New York now). I use Uber a lot or public transportation. Don't rent an apartment. For staying for few days using airbnb, for longer-term rentals you have sulekha.com. I always found very good apartments for few months.

I would travel to India every 3 to 4 months. Many times I travel to India to work remotely from India. Even if I don't, the expenses I don't have to pay for in US, pays for my plane ticket which is about $800-1200 round trip when traveling from the coast during off season. The per-mile cost is far less than traveling between the coasts in US. 

This is exactly what this Pakistani Uber driver is doing and I were doing for last few years. When in India, I enjoy every minute of it. When back in US, I enjoy my professional, cultural, and intellectual life. I was able to do this because my kids preferred to stay in India while in school and I have a supportive wife.  I don't think everybody can pull this off. Had it not for my children college education, I would have continued this Uber style arrangement.

In fact most of the NRIs living in my gated community in India do the same. Wife and kids stay put in India while husbands work overseas and show up every few months. Kids go to the best schools and have private tutors coming to home to help them with academics. Kids finish high school in India, write SATs and come back to US for college education. Everybody is happy. Wives are the most happiest ones because they don't have their husbands around to nag them. I call those wives "The Merry Wives of Hill County" (Hill county is the name of the gated community I live in) and the husbands "The Uber husbands".