Comments on: You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin’ to?

By: Sri Viswanath

Sri Viswanath — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 21:48:25 +0000

If there is anyone who we could label as opportunist then the honour should go to Biju Mathew. There is not scabby sham this gentleman has not participated in ..starting from securing his professor tenure to his alleged association with Radical Evangelism. He is sugar coats his “struggle” as championing rights for poor taxi workers in New York..but reality is…he uses his position as a leverage to influence many NY office bearers and gods know how far his influence extends in other directions. Well if someone feels like uncovering Mr.Biju’s agenda then this book is the best read..start rengineering his scheme’s and you will soon figure out that we have another scamster at our doorstep.

By: ashish

ashish — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 16:44:13 +0000

Excellent Book!! I liked his analysis of the new globalized economy and how the risks are being shifted downwards in the chain to the most deprived. It seems he is not just telling the story of the Taxi drived of New York, but of a larger world where exploitation has become the norm.

ps: I don't think he is an activist of Communist Party of India.

By: hammer_sickel

hammer_sickel — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 13:04:26 +0000

The book is not as surprising if you look at authors background - Biju Mathews is a hardcore leftist (activist of Communist Party of India) with lot of work in Hyderabad; co-founder of Forum of Indian Leftists (FOIL); Vice-president of Singh Foundation (which sponsors Teesta Setalwad, Anand Patwardhan); Actively involved in group campaigning for Modi's visa denial;

By: rage

rage — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 13:45:18 +0000

Definitely have to echo Saurav’s point – Taxi Workers’ Alliance is a wonderful organization doing difficult work and still staying very true to letting the members (drivers) determine the path and priorities of their organizing.

Haven’t read the book yet – but would love to see if he talks to any of the folks who’ve chromed out their cabs.

By: tilo

tilo — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 22:40:50 +0000

Heard about it on NPR. was on DJ rekha’s list http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4709546

By: Amardeep

Amardeep — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 20:47:58 +0000

I ended up buying this book through Amazon last week, and am now about half-way through it.

It's definitely worth a read. The most interesting parts to me are the description of the the 1998 taxi workers strike (a loss), the 2001-2002 battle for FEMA relief after 9/11 (a victory), and the terms of the recent fare hike (another victory: most of the money after the increase goes to the drivers, rather than the owners of the cars).

Mathew talks about those different events in a pretty easy-going, user-friendly style, with many quotes and anecdotes from taxi-drivers he worked with.

There is a bit of political editorializing, but not as much as the New Yorker article would have you think. It's well-written and highly readable.

By: Saurav

Saurav — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 20:34:22 +0000

Important point:

You should all give money and/or other support to the Taxi Workers. They are a great organization. And, as the article suggests, tip a lot

Unimportant points:

I find it intriguing/annoying that McGrath kept mentioning their faith–as if that has anything to do with anything. Muslims don’t drink? The masjid in the neighborhood is part of why taxi drivers hang out there at 3 am?

Maybe it’s true–I don’t know–but I spent all weekend hearing from a couple of queer friends about how many drivers they’ve picked up…so much for what Muslims do and don’t do

-s