How to celebrate Drivers Day differently

No, no. It is not a saloon. Not a barbershop.

Then what?

It is the maintenance workshop of Pallia Trans Logistics at Manesar, Haryana.

What are hair stylists doing in a transport company workshop? Good question.

Vipul Nanda thoda hatke socha hai this time to celebrate Drivers Day. Instead of doing the regular lecture on road safety, signing on the wall of safety pledges after lining up his flock of long-haul truck drivers like the Prisoners of War (PoWs).

He understood over the years that drivers hate lectures. If it is Drivers’ Day, let it be a joyful event. Not a mandir ka pravachan. Let there be fun and games. Masti, yes.

Yeh masti karne ke pehle, thoda yeh driver ka roop badal dalo. Drivers, we all know, give no importance to their appearance. Yeh galat soch hai. Appearance matters a lot. I have figured from my conversations with drivers that the corrupt highway bureaucrats and policewala hesitate to harass better-dressed drivers.

After all, drivers are brand ambassadors for transport companies, in a way. Just uniforms alone won’t suffice. Imagine a uniformed driver with unkempt hair and a bushy beard bristling in all directions. Disorderly. Uncouth. Ugly. Right?

Why not make them look better? That’s where the idea of grooming came in. Hair stylists were bulao-ed to give a decent haircut and some facial treatment before they troop out to watch the latest Hindi blockbuster Brahmastra in a multiplex with popcorn and coke. They would return to their bases after a sumptuous dinner at a mall restaurant — mind not, not at a highway dhaba! Thoda hatke, even for drivers. Please tell me, achcha dikne mein burra kya hai? Vipul cottoned onto this as his campaign slogan. Just like garibi hatao war cry of late prime minister Srimati Indira Gandhi.

After all, a better appearance improves one’s self-esteem. Don’t we know that this commodity is in short supply among truck drivers?

Times are changing. Motor maliks began to think thoda hatke! Drivers don’t have to worry about boring lectures on safety and other talks. Not lining up like PoWs. Drivers Day has to be entertaining. Not another dull, sleep-inducing day-long affair and drivers counting each nano-second as to when this “drama” staged to please their motor maliks would end. Once-in-a-year opportunity to freak out. Let them. Why not?

Well, well. Whatever prizes motor maliks want to shower on their drivers, they can distribute the same at the dinner table where they are in colorful costumes, not the gray khaki uniforms. If possible, join them in the entertainment cycle:

• hairstyling
• movie at a multiplex with a popcorn-coke combo and a tongue-tickling
• sizzling dinner at the mall with multiplexes

Got it? True bond-building exercise. If this pleasure trip does not boost productivity, buttonhole me.

In Tamilnadu, cine fans built a temple for Kollywood actress Khusbhoo long ago. If motor maliks transform into entertainers for a day for their drivers, don’t be surprised if these most-neglected drivers plan a mandir for their maliks. No jokes. Give it a try.

Any more thoda hatke ideas? Plenty. Watch this space.