But Pandey didn’t arrive from his native Jaunpur. “I was two years old when my father moved the family to Mumbai,” he says. “How can I be called an outsider?” The Pandeys live in Lalbaug, a Central Mumbai locality dominated by Maharashtrians.

Like him, there are thousands of taxi-drivers in Mumbai hailing from Jaunpur, Azamgarh and Basti-the taxi union estimates that over 70 per cent of the city’s cabbies are from Uttar Pradesh. But even more interesting: Of the 55,000 taxis in Mumbai, more than 20,000 are owned by Maharashtrians who choose to employ “migrants” from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to driver their black-and-yellows.

Balasaheb Sonawane is one such taxi owner, his vehicle driven for many years by Dudhnath Shukla from Pratapgarh. “I gave my taxi to Shukla 14 years ago, because I’ve known him and his father for many, many years,” says Sonawane, praising his driver’s dedication and sincerity. “The stand that these people are outsiders is totally wrong. It’s these men who work hard to earn and keep this city running.”

Pandey, who was nearly attacked by a mob at Dadar on Monday morning, is now worried. “At Cadell Road, as I got off for tea and saw a mob rushing towards me. I ran into the cab and quickly vanished,” he recalled. “After that, I stopped ferrying passengers to Dadar. What can I do, it’s sad that you’re attacked in the only city you know as home.”

The Mumbai Taximen’s Union is taking a though stand on the series of attacks on taxis. General Secretary of the union A L Quadros said: “The taxi drivers certainly belong here, since taxi licenses and permits were issued to them after verifying their residential proof and domicile certificates of the state,” he said.

Quadros adds that it’s the sheer dearth of opportunities back home that leads these young men to Mumbai, with no living arrangements or job guarantees apart from a hope of making this their home, of offering the city their hard labour minus any community prejudices. As drivers, they mostly live in the city’s thriving slums and earn about Rs 400 a day. “Over seven-eight of them stay together in a single shanty,” Quadros says. It’s a nine-month shift, then a vacation before they return home to the city.