Journey through Gujarat-1
Despite spending more than a decade in the neighboring state of Maharashtra (1980–1991), the shift to the national capital, Delhi, brought me closer to Gujarat, 1,400 km away. I have lost count of visits to this coastal state post-2010. The full credit goes to the logistics and supply chain vertical and the highways and truck drivers in particular.
Two visits merit a footnote in the pre-2010 period. In 1990, I visited Veraval for a story on the travails of the fisherman community for Mumbai Mid-Day. After 14 years, I spent time in Ahmedabad for another story on the role of the coast guards in safeguarding the western coast of India for the Ambani-owned The Observer of Business & Politics.
Another six years elapsed before I reconnected with Gujarat, unaware that the dalliance would flourish to the extent that not a single year passed subsequently without my presence in the home state of the current prime minister Narendra Modi.
Let me begin with October 2010. My maiden truck trip from Chennai to Gurgaon happened via Gujarat (National Highway 8 then, and NH48 now) in Mercurio Pallia Logistics car carrier, one of the niche logistics companies ferrying finished passenger vehicles from automotive manufacturing plants to various dealer points or stockyards. Yet another route from the south to the north takes one via Chitradurga, Bijapur, Shirdi, Pune, Gwalior, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, and Jaipur. However, the Golden Quadrilateral — Bengaluru, Hubli, Belgaum, Pune, Thane, Surat, Halol, Rattanpur, Udaipur, and Jaipur — is the preferred route for truckers due to better roads, though a more expensive route on account of tolled highways.
Thirtyish and sparsely-haired Umesh Rana was at the wheels with Pinto Sahu as his assistant. On Day 4, we entered Gujarat from Maharashtra. We could have crossed into Gujarat a day earlier, but for the electric circuit failure in the vehicle near Pune in the early hours of Day 3, compelling repair work at the Tata Motors workshop consumed several hours.
At sunset, we halted at Vadodara-Halol junction to meet with Hitesh Parikh, Mercurio Pallia Logistics branch manager based in Vadodara, as a courtesy call. That night, we (Rana, Pinto, and self) parked the car carrier loaded with ten brand new i10 Hyundai passenger cars at a trucker restaurant with adequate parking space, dined and rested for the night inside the driver cabin. By now, I got used to sleeping in driver cabins.
The next morning, we drove to the Halol parking yard of Mercurio Pallia Logistics, a kilometer after crossing the General Motors manufacturing plants (now, MG Motors, a Chinese company, owns it after GM exited India, citing poor market conditions for its vehicles).
Coincidentally, we ran into Balwinder Singh, another Mercurio Pallia driver whom we overtook on day two near Chitradurga, Karnataka, where he was repairing his broken-down vehicle. He made up for the loss of time subsequently thanks to our vehicle’s problems in Pune the same night.
Singh had briefed me about highway hijacking during our conversation in Chitradurga. He luckily spotted the hijacked driver Gurbagh Singh in the Halol yard and introduced him to us to hear the suspenseful incident from the victim directly. That exchange gave me enough material to write a chapter (At Gun Point) in my maiden book, 10,000KM on Indian Highways (2011). We moved out to cross the Shamlaji check-post on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border post-lunch.
A year later, I wangled an invite from General Motors for a story about the American car maker’s yard management practice, one of the interesting topics for the London-based Automotive Logistics and Finished Vehicle Logistics magazine. That was another Gujarat trip where I would build a professional relationship with Tarun Sircar of General Motors, handling the finished vehicle logistics portfolio for a long time, and reconnect a decade later when he would relocate as an advisor to a transport company in Manesar.
Over the years, my interest in understanding the working and living conditions of long-haul truck drivers expanded my transporter network, including driver suppliers to heavy commercial vehicle manufacturers, to drive chassis to various locations for storage and sale. This jockey business opened a new avenue with Jaiveer Johal, the London School of Economics-educated professional in this line of business, based out of Chennai. He, in turn, connected me with Ahmedabad-based Kamal Dogra of Dogra Group of Companies.
Dogra’s story is riveting. Son of a truck driver hailing from Jammu and belonging to the Kashyap Rajput community, he rose from the ranks of chassis driver to own a 350-plus fleet owning company. This connection got cemented over the years, resulting in a unique bonding. No visit to Gujarat would be completed without a round of chai with him at his corporate office.
Dogra is just one fragrant flower in my bouquet. Several others from the transport industry with Gujarat as their base would accept me as a friend, enabling me to learn the ropes of the transport business in small doses.
(Continued)
