“Do you even know what this day is for?” Well… I respond, stutter a bit and begin to explain that actually I am not entirely sure, but think that its roots come from All Hallow’s Eve and has something to do with celebrating the dead. Later I find this answer to be almost entirely false, but my information error did make for interesting conversation…

Now celebrating the dead? What is that all about? You know, the Hindus do this too. I am Muslim, we mourn death and have funerals, like Christians. But Hindus, they drag their deceased out into public view, and chant and dance around the body, the ceremony can last for days. They may wear colors and few tears are shed, he describes to me. I ask him if this is bothers the Muslims, the Hindu’s contrary practices. He immediately says no, and then, as if he noticed the doubt expressed on my face, he retorts, okay, okay, yes of course it used to be, and now in the North it is not at all. But in my town, only until recently has this religious tension subsided. He comes from the south of India, where he explains to me that people are a little slower and perhaps less educated, but primarily less active and modern-minded. He laughs, relating it to me, by drawing a comparison between there and the southern states. I ask him if the intolerance in the South is an issue in education, as this typically is my go-to when identifying social issues. No he replies confidently, most of India is uneducated and they have been living harmoniously for years before we were. The problem is that they do not do anything. They are unproductive, they do not work; they sit around all day and think. You see, he continues, the people in north are more industrialized and modern, they live more like we do here. They are busy, they wake up and go to work and work all day, so they have no time to concern themselves with why the Hindu’s think it is appropriate to celebrate death. Think about it, he says, while raising his voice a bit and becoming more involved in his own thought process… people in New York City are open-minded and accept different religions and races. Why? He sits up a bit and checks out my face in the rear-view mirror, I am return his glare bright eyed and wondering, and shake my head from side to side, signaling to him that I am still unsure. Because we are so busy! He exclaims. He laughs to himself again, and then settles down… there is brief moment of silence here. I am silent in the backseat, now staring out the window, contemplating this last thought. To me, it honestly came as quiet the surprise. I believe education is the beginning to understanding and further, as a philosophy major, I am under the impression that the lack of real thinking is what is wrong with the world. And here is this taxi driver, providing me with empirical evidence that too much thinking is what’s to blame.
The mind is the devil’s workshop. It will play tricks on you. If you sit around and think all day, you are not doing anything, and you will begin to question why you have so many problems in your life. And then if you did not act on your problems and get productive, you will arrive at nonsensical conclusions and blame other people. This is his thought process… I suppose this is plausible, but regardless, I’m still going to have to think on it for a while. The mind is the devil’s workshop; remember that, he repeats to me.