Brace yourselves; even the coldest of hearts will melt and tears will start welling up after reading this gloomy story recounted by private hire car driver Cassandra Tan. We hope you’re sitting down for this.
Early yesterday morning, the driver (believed to be working for Grab) received a booking that requested a ride from Bukit Timah Road — though there was no exact address provided. Upon calling him, the man simply said he was at a bus stop along the long stretch of road.
“Sensing something very wrong, I said just sit there and wait for me. I will find you!”
And she did, finding an Indian migrant worker sitting by himself at a bus stop nearby, looking listless. He got in the car, politely requesting to sit at the front, but noticeably upset, according to Tan.
She found out that he had walked very far from home (the drop off point) to the bus stop. Wiping tears from his eyes, he remained reticent — until Tan said “It’s ok. You can talk”.
His story brought the driver to tears, but she managed to hold it back until she dropped him off.
“He went on to say he and his wife were orphans at an orphanage and grew up together and fell in love. They had to ‘betroth’ (his word ‘sell’) their baby girl to a family in their village so they had money to pay for doctor visits for her pregnancy. The baby was supposed to be turned over to the family at age 12.”
“His wife died during childbirth and the family had claimed the baby girl after the hospital turned her over to them. This man sitting next to me now will never have the chance to see his baby girl or even put his wife to rest.”
If you don’t find that story depressing, we don’t know what is.
Tan declined to take his fare and even wanted to give him money for an airfare home, but the man refused, saying that there was no use going home now.
“Thank you for hear me,” he said before leaving. Later on, Tan found that he had stuck $20 in a slot on her car’s door.
After attempting to call him on the same number for hours, she managed to get through — but it was picked up by a different Indian man. According to the person on the phone, the phone was actually his, and his friend (the mysterious passenger) had already left for home. His boss had given him money to fly back to India.
“I hope he will be blessed and find peace within himself soon,” Tan ended. “I didn’t expect this post to go viral but thank you to everyone who shared to let people know what some of our foreign workers face.”
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