It is not unusual for me receive two phone calls at least per day from truck drivers. Well, that is the kind of bonding we developed with each other. Many a driver calls up to share his bitter experience with his ‘motor malik’ or the harassment of RTOs on national highways or the theft of cargo and sundry. I invariably listen to them and offer solutions wherever possible and this constant flow of inputs from the men who help Indian trade and commerce to prosper without getting due credit is a regular fodder for me.
Yet, the call in mid-December did disturb me. Vikram Singh, he kept correcting me that he is ‘Rao’ not ‘Singh’ from Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, has moved out of ‘drivery’ and set up a dhaba on the highway near Bijapur.
“Sirji, aapka agela trip per, mera dhaba mein rook nayi padega. Aur khana bhi khana padega,” (You must halt during your next trip to Bijapur at my dhaba and eat food also) he pleaded.
I never said ‘no’ to anyone who offered food – be it full meal or tea and cookies. It is a way of respecting the other person and refusing to partake is not a dignified act, I always felt. When such a request emanates from a truck driver, the response can never be negative.
But …
Why this sudden shift from ‘drivery’ to ‘dhaba’?
According to him, earnings are not adequate to keep his body and soul together. Whatever little he has saved over years – he must be in his late 30s and driving since 16 years – he got into hoteliering for truck drivers.
I just returned from Pune after attending the 2-day Automotive Logistics India 2012 Conference and the last engagement at this do was anchoring a Round Table with 10 OEMs and LSPs on Vehicle Logistics. Without exception, every single member of the team exposed how their heart beat for the hapless truck driver.
In the process of discussing optimum asset utilization issue, there was a unanimous consensus that drivers’ working conditions including his pay-scale ought to be scaled up to avoid the looming crisis. Sunil Chaturvedi, CEO of Automotive Skills Development Council, already indicated that India needs 5 million truck drivers by 2015 (hardly 24 months away) from the present 3 million tally. This target is unlikely to be met, if Vikram Singhs take ‘sanyas’ from drivery.
Vikram Singh was my travel companion (was it the other way round?) in February 2012 as I travelled in his truck-on-truck consignment from Ashok Leyland’s Pant Nagar plant to Hosur sales yard, covering more than 2,600 km and crossing 7 states (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharasthra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) over 7 days. Yes, we did have our quota of ugly brushes with authorities on this journey and I also recalled his deft handling of ticklish issues. He was a safe and intelligent driver. I can easily club him in my best category – alongside my all-time favorite, Anil Pandeyji of Credence Logistics who drove me on the Jamshedpur-Ludhiana stretch over 5 days in February 2011.
As luck would have it, another young driver Sandeep’s case is also interesting. He was again part of the two-convoy truck-on-truck from Pant Nagar to Hosur trip. Soon after the trip in February 2012, I heard from Vikram Singh that he quit. Why? “To get married,” responded the lean framed Vikram. Why the 22 year old Jhunjhuna lad has to quit drivery to get hooked? You may wonder. He has no other option.
During that trip, Sandeep kept harping how his parents’ efforts to get him married is getting derailed because he is a ‘driver’. No father would like to give his daughter in marriage to truck drivers. Reasons are many: long working hours away from home, unsafe sex on highways to satiate their physical hunger, not a regular source of income, etc. Expectedly, Sandeep keen on marriage, gave up his ‘drivery’, sat at his uncle’s shop for a few months jobless, but ‘gainfully employed’(!), got noticed and hooked finally. Yes, he is married now. When I called him over phone to congratulate, I could not help asking the obvious: why leave drivery? “Sirji, you know the answer,” was his quick response.
Last heard, he is back to ‘drivery’ in Alwar. No long all-India trips but within a 200 km radius of Alwar so that he can be back home as frequently as possible to be with his ‘sweetheart’ and lead a normal life. That’s a demand from his in-laws before they agreed to the betrothal of their beloved daughter to Sandeep, the truck driver.
Hang on…. There’s another call coming through…
“Yes, Bharat (Yadav). Kya baat hai?” (What’s the matter, Bharat?) That was Bharat Yadav who drove me from Guwahati to Tinsukia in November 2012 with Pinkoo as his assistant. Both hail from Motihari, Bihar and neighbours.
Where’s Pinkoo, the school finalist? Is he with him now?
“No, sirji. He has gone for an interview in Patna for a peon post.”
Another potential driver lost to the nation, am sure.