Innova. Ikon. Chevrolet. Scorpio. i10. Many more such swank cars and SUVs are on the road. Seeing them I remember a conversation my friend and I had many years back when the first of these vehicles began to appear.

”Forget owning one, I wish I could at least drive one of these cars,” my friend said. That was a time when we could not dream of buying even a low-end car.

I then suggested an idea to my friend. ”Look for the job of a driver of one of these cars. If the owners are rich enough to buy such cars, probably they will pay well too. You have to just drive the car and maintain it in good condition.”

We had a good laugh pondering over how we could pursue the suggestion, and what perks we might get as the driver of a rich man’s car.

We never chased our dream. But many others seem to have. Look at who are driving these cars. Very rarely the owners. Some of the drivers are from lower middle class, even poor background; who may not even own a two-wheeler.

Ever since I noticed this I began to casually and discreetly check with some drivers their background. My presumption wasn’t wrong. One of them is remarkable.

He said his name was Arun. He skirted my question as to what his full name was. He merely said everyone called him Arun and that was his name. My suspicion is that it is his adopted name or a truncated form of his full name, so it’s easy to pronounce and sounds urbane.

He is from Kolar, some 70 km from Bangalore. He has studied only till eighth. He is the driver of a top HR official of a well-known US company and drives Innova. He got the job after a friend in Bangalore tipped him off. He was till then working as an assistant in his uncle’s small provision shop in Kolar. He had learnt driving and got a licence as he was planning to join a travel agency.

The call from Bangalore two years back changed his life. He picked up working knowledge of English. The CEO gave him three pairs of dress, and educated him about the need to be dressed well. He gets around Rs 8,000. ”Sir considers me almost like a family member though I am only his driver. He has changed my life. He says he will increase my salary next month.”

Did you ever think you could one day drive Innova, I asked him. His answer said it all: ”We are poor. I don’t remember seeing these cars in Kolar. Maybe there are. But I started noticing all these cars only after coming to Bangalore.”

After the conversation, I also realised that there are some people for whom even dreams are beyond them.