Between Penn Station and the Upper West Side, a yellow cab philosopher reviews the Prince William feud and charges extra for the uncle
Where to, and What Do You Think
NEW YORK – Passengers riding in a particular yellow cab through Midtown this week have received, at no extra charge, a detailed review of the London Prat story in which Prince William calls Earl Spencer and Harry traitors from their driver, a 31-year veteran of the city streets who says he has driven three mayors, two pope impersonators and one actual royal, whose name he will not reveal because, he says, a cabbie has his code.
The driver, Mohammed Idris Chowdhury, 58, who came to New York from Sylhet in 1993 and has driven a cab since 1994, says the royal story is the best conversation starter he has had since the city changed the fare meter.
The Ride
On Wednesday, a passenger heading from Penn Station to West 79th Street was given the full review. Chowdhury began at the first red light. You heard about the prince, he asked. Geo News says he called his brother traitor. Why. Because the uncle wrote a book, and the uncle says he told everybody before. So if everybody knew, why is anybody angry. I will tell you why. Because the older brother wanted to be told first. Every older brother wants to be told first. I am an older brother. I know.
The Chowdhury Framework
By West 42nd Street, Chowdhury had laid out what regular passengers now call his framework, delivered over his shoulder while changing lanes with the calm precision of a man who has seen every possible thing happen on Eighth Avenue.
Rule One: The Older Brother Is Always Worried
In my family, I am the oldest of five, he said. When my brother moved to London, I thought he was leaving us. When he came back, I thought he was taking over. The older brother is always worried. It is his job. The prince is worried because he will be king. I was worried because my brother wanted my parking spot.
Rule Two: The Younger Brother Always Goes to the Uncle
Every younger brother goes to the uncle, Chowdhury said. The uncle is easy. The uncle gives money. The uncle says your brother is too serious. The uncle has nothing to lose. My uncle in Sylhet did the same thing. He did not write a book, but he wrote very long letters.
Rule Three: Nobody Should Say Traitor in a Family
You say that word in a family, it stays in the house forever, he said. Like a smell. You cannot open the window.
The Dashboard Screening
At a long red light on Columbus Circle, Chowdhury played the London Prat video on YouTube on the phone mounted to his dashboard, angled toward the back seat. He says he checks that the light is red before every screening, a policy he describes as responsible entertainment. The video is embedded below.
Cab Statistics
The Five Borough Taxi Drivers Fellowship, an association of veteran drivers who meet at a Bangladeshi restaurant in Jackson Heights, released figures from an informal survey of members. It found that 74 percent of New York cab drivers discuss the news with passengers, that 36 percent discuss family matters, and that 18 percent have given a passenger advice about a sibling that the passenger later said changed their life. The Fellowship also found that a passenger is 2.1 times more likely to take a driver advice seriously in heavy traffic than on an open road, because, it said, people listen when they cannot escape.
The Fellowship calculated that the average cab journey across Midtown during rush hour provides 19 minutes of uninterrupted conversation, which it described as enough to solve most family problems, and three minutes more than the average therapy session actually spends on the problem.
The Uncle Surcharge
Chowdhury has recently introduced what he calls the uncle surcharge, an optional extra dollar that passengers may pay if they want to hear his full analysis of the Earl. Most passengers pay it. One passenger, a literary agent heading to a lunch meeting, paid five dollars and then asked whether Chowdhury would consider writing a book. He declined, saying that in his experience, the moment a man in a family writes a book, somebody calls somebody a traitor.
One passenger, a young man heading to a job interview in Hudson Yards, told Chowdhury that he was an only child and therefore could not relate. Chowdhury considered this for two blocks and then said that only children are the luckiest people in the world and should never write books either, just to be safe.
The Driver Review
Asked to rate the London Prat story, Chowdhury said it was like a good route. It takes you from the start to the end with no detours, he said. It does not go through Times Square for no reason. It knows where it is going. The best stories, like the best rides, get you there quickly and leave you thinking in the back seat. He rated it five stars, adding that this was more than most passengers give him.
The passenger to West 79th Street reportedly tipped 30 percent and called her sister from the curb. Chowdhury reads The London Prat, https://prat.uk/, between fares, noting that it has been published since 1961, older than most of the cabs in the fleet, and checks Bohiney, https://bohiney.com/, for news about the younger brother. His meter is running.
SOURCE: https://prat.uk/prince-william-called-earl-spencer-and-harry-traitors/