The Roadrunner!

ic: thehindu.com

A couple of days back, a headline in a daily newspaper titled, “Her Highway” caught my attention.

Yogita Raghuvanshi – The first Indian truck driver!

The article briefly described that Yogita, a law graduate and single mother, took to the wheels and has been driving her truck across the length and breadth of India for the last 15 years.

Driving on the highways picking up and delivering industrial goods, clocking about 500000 miles so far, she says life has been good to her.

Given the unfavorable conditions in some pockets of India for a single women, Yogita says she has  never faced any handicap or felt vulnerable being a woman. In fact she has found people to be very helpful.

I applaud her courage and grit to break into a predominantly male bastion and make a successful career for herself. Kudos to such courageous women from everyday life, who set an example and  inspire many others!

“ A strong woman has a strength enough for the journey, but a woman of strength knows it is in the journey where she will become strong. “

Have you come across any such strong women in a male dominated profession?

 

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Tanka – Transport & Exercise

In response to Elise’s weekly poetry challenge #81 using the prompt words Transport & exercise.

ic:indianexpress.com

Transport woes persist

a gigantic exercise

manoeuvring the

serpentine vehicles lined

traffic nightmare on the roads!

 

 

Solo Driving Expedition!

Wanting to learn driving, I enrolled myself in a driving school. Well the month long class was great, and I felt confident of driving around on my own. Next couple of times, I drove around for short distances with husband by my side, guiding me and giving me the much required support and confidence. Well finally the day arrived when I had to take the car out all by myself.

With my heartbeat racing, nervous but telling myself that I could do it, I set out.  The drive was pretty decent for a first timer after an initial jerky start. By the time I arrived at my destination, I was feeling really happy about how I drove.

After completing my work, I got back into the car and started off.  I had  just got onto a flyover and saw that there was a massive line-up of vehicles, literally bumper to bumper. The traffic was moving at snail’s pace. Now the panic mode set in. All my confidence and feel good factor vanished into thin air! I could only inch forward, constantly oscillating between the clutch and break. When I tried to go ahead the car would move back as I was on an incline. I don’t know how many times I chanted a prayer to the Lord, pleading him to get me out of the traffic snarl. Maybe He did hear my prayer. I somehow did manage to come out of the mayhem unscathed but sweating profusely because of the tension. The drive on that flyover which normally takes a couple of minutes, took almost 45 minutes. You could imagine my ordeal.  What a relief it was reach back home without a mishap. I offered a heartfelt thank you to God for bailing me out of the mess.

This  was many years ago. Have been driving ever since.  Now when I look back at it, I smile at my nervous yet successful first time solo driving expedition!

In response to the daily prompt : Nervous