Go ahead: Search for "Asif Hussain Shah." Can't resist, can you? His plan is working, but that's nothing — wait 'til you see the interior. We're stone sober, and it freaked us the hell out.
This is Asif Hussain Shah, and this is his Suzuki taxi. He operates it in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and he has written a book about his experiences behind the wheel. We don't understand what's up with all the tigers and triumphant birds and such, but then, no one has taken a picture of us and uploaded our face to the wire services. Maybe there's a lesson there.
Mr. Hussain Shah's book is called For Hire. It's not currently available in English, but you can read a review of it here. Check the crazy wisdom:
"I am neither a scholar nor an intellectual, but I see and feel life all around me and have tried to capture those moments of truth in my own words," Asif said. The effort gave him immense strength and enabled him to fight his depression away, looking towards the future with a new hope and zeal. Asif said that perhaps it is for the first time in Pakistan that a taxi driver has become the author of a book, but we all must agree that a common man [can] make it in the world of the affluent with simple dedication and hard work.
Indeed, Mr. Hussain Shah. Indeed.
Photo Credit: Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images