Surat Diary-3
Ghanshyam Yadav reminded me of ace Indian Cricketer Kapil Dev. The lanky Ghanshyam never held a bat in his hand ever. Similarly, I don’ think the Haryanvi who strode the global cricket pantheon by winning the World Cup for India in 1983 for the first time would have driven a truck in his lifetime.
Then why Ghanshyam reminds me of Kapil? Colgate Palmolive. Kapil endorsed the multinational dental care and face-care (shaving cream!) with the unforgettable “Colgate Palmolive ka jawab nahi” brand speak at his peak.
Ghanshyam is part of the 65-strong truck drivers assembled for the Smart Driver Program at the IOC Depot, Hazira, Surat, coinciding with the Road Safety Week (22–27 November 2021) observed by the oil marketing major.
Trainer Raghuram Sharma is interspersing his gyan-sharing on safety tips with jokes to break the monotony and keep the flock in good humor. He is a master storyteller, that too in excellent Hindi. After all, this Andhraite was born and brought up in the Steel City of Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. Luckily, drivers servicing IOC Hazira are mainly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, and they relish and cherish his witty remarks.
Originally from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, and now settled in Valsad (100 km from Surat), Ghanshyam has been behind truck steering for 25 years. He is occupying the front row seat in the class in session. When the entire class erupts into boisterous laughter or smiles happily at Sharma’s jokes, he is stoic: the Buddha-like.
“Have you forgotten laughing, Ghanshyamji?” asks Sharma. He is unresponsive.
During the tea break, we broach the same subject. “Hasne ke liye, paise chahiye kya?” (Do you expect to be compensated monetarily for smiling or laughing?) asks Arun Rodriques, one of the trainer crew.
This time, Ghanshyam opens up. Possibly, he felt it was time to tell the world what he nurses. When you laugh or smile, your teeth are visible. If the teeth are unshaped or not pearly white, that may convey a bad image. To keep the teeth shining, Ghanshyam logically explains he needs Colgate Palmolive. Nobody gives toothpaste free of cost. So, there is a price to his smile or laughter!
“Has not Kapil Dev paid for smiling and promoting Colgate?” asks Ghanshyam childlike. Well, argumentative. Let us hope he has not stopped brushing because he is not monetarily compensated! If not Colgate Palmolive, some other stuff. Including the neem stick or charcoal as teeth-cleaner, once derided by the MNCs but later gone to town tom-toming about the efficacy of the same desi stuff!
Today there are umpteen comedy shows on Indian television, reflecting the popularity of this genre. Making people laugh and smile is a serious business. Ask any comedian — stand up or sit down — and he would confess that it is the most challenging job.
There are scientific benefits behind smiling or laughing. “When you smile, your brain releases tiny molecules called neuropeptides to help fight off stress. Then other neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and endorphins come into play too. The endorphins act as a mild pain reliever, whereas the serotonin is an antidepressant. One study even suggests that smiling can help us recover faster from stress and reduce our heart rate,” says a health blog.
No truck driver needs elucidation on his job challenges. Painful. Stressful. The poor treatment meted out to them at the hands of service seekers everywhere. In a nutshell, they feel “neglected and ignored” and thus go into depression or self-pity. It is a dangerous scenario. They ferry valuable merchandise in an equally expensive vehicle on the Indian highways where all road users give lane discipline and other road safety the least importance. These ingredients are a potential cocktail of stress which happens daily, not a one-off occurrence.
Therefore, they need to relieve their tension as frequently as possible. Laughing and smiling are the free God-given tools. Why not use to bust life-reducing anger, stress, depression?
In the post-tea break laughter therapy session, where the class laughs loud as a stress buster tool, Ghanshyam is neck-deep into that. He is full-throated. As colleagues needle him, he begins to smile without asking for a single rupee. So far. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
