On the road to Sawai Madhopur-2
“When Dilshad (Khan) is at home, he is our parivar. Jab he steps out and drives your trucks, he’s your parivar. That is what our understanding always was. Now, you’re changing that matrix with your mission to meet, greet and chat with Dilshad’s family. Achcha lagta hai.”
That was Ansari Ali,(seated to my right) the young and handsome Dilshad’s dad, seated in his unpainted brick and cemented makhaan in Khatupura, Sawai Madhopur (yes, the tiger territory), surrounded by his parivar on a Saturday afternoon. The scorching sun outside, but thanda thanda inside.
The lean, early-20s Swift Roadlilnk driver, married and with a kid, back home for Eid a week earlier, hovers around marshalling his homely resources to offer something to us. Athithi devo bhava!
On our visit, we did not anticipate his presence at his home as part of Parivar Connect, a new initiative scripted by the Centre for Driver Relationship Management (CÐRM) to look beyond drivers, build bridges with drivers’ families, and establish strong bonds. There should be no “Us” and “Them.”
Anyone can invest in building a huge trucking company, but chalanewala is not the owner but the flock of drivers. Unlike in the past when Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of India, and there was no precedent of Nitin Gadkaris in the union cabinet holding a niche portfolio of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (because there were only kachcha roads and no state or national highways), and owners drove their vehicles and treated others driving their additional vehicles as part of their family, there was no compulsion for Parivar connects.
Remember Ramu Kaka in the Hindi films? He was part of the family he served. The same holds for drivers, too. Then, that is. No longer.
Things changed. The Nagpur Highway Plan crystallised. National and State Highways came. Macadamized roads came. Circa 1999 came. Atal Behari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister. Then came the Golden Quadrilateral. Since then, there has been no looking back, except for a decade-long hiatus during the Manmohan Singh era (2004–2014).
The entry of videshi truck makers woke up the dormant Tatas and Leyland, which were copying India’s most popular passenger car, Ambassador, which attempted little enhancement of features to make truck driving a better experience.
Today, the highways have improved, and commercial vehicles have improved. Yet, the condition of the truck drivers remains pathetic. Seventy-five years after Independence, we await the rollout of wayside amenities. Trucks have no parking space en route. They park wherever they desire and get space. Corruption in the transport wings of every state government led to untrained saarthis steering heavy trucks.
Road safety is an alien concept in India, not only for truck drivers but for everyone. No wonder India has the highest number of road fatalities. Mera Bharat Mahaan!
Dilshad’s father’s surprise at the entry of visitors from the company whose trucks he drives was understandable. Fleet-owning companies rarely maintain the kundli of their drivers. The only records they have of drivers are their driver’s license, Aadhar card, guarantor’s name, mobile number, and contact details of one close relative in case of emergency.
There is no HR department for drivers. Such fancy designations are for the white-collar babus whose work hinges on faceless drivers.
Post Corona, the looming 22% driver shortage, and the exodus of Indian truck drivers to greener pastures to earn dollar income, fleet owners are waking up. Their sole concern is how to retain the existing drivers.
Parivar Connect is one among the several tools.
Not that it was not happening. It does happen. CDRM hopes to make it mainstream
Ignore the driver’s welfare at your peril.
Dilshad enters the tastefully decorated guest home with a trayful of chilled nimbu paani. Earlier, the invitation to dawaat was politely declined.
Picking up the ever-silver tumbler with nimbu paani, Swift Roadline’s Mukesh Prajapati asks: “Dilshad bhai, kab wapas aa rahe ho?”
Soon, the saarthi responds with a beatific smile.
How soon? No idea!
(More to come)
