Mamatha C – School Bus Driver
“They equate me driving a bus… to me prostituting. But I am unfazed by what my in-laws think and say. Given a chance and training, I can fly an aircraft too.” Mamatha C says softly yet firmly.
Emotions catch up with her when she makes a general plea to the society, “do not stop a girl child from pursuing her dreams. Tade beda,” meaning ‘do not block my path’ in Kannada.
Born in 1989 in Bangalore, Mamatha completed her high school education. Married at a young age in 2005, she dreamed of becoming a career woman. Looking at her husband, who worked as a cab driver, Mamatha constantly requested him to teach her driving. Time and again he ignored her wishes, yet taught it to a relative. She questioned him, and his response, ‘I cannot teach you driving because you are a woman’, cut Mamatha deep in her heart. She enrolled herself in a driving school and in time received her licence.
Soon Mamatha started driving their own tourist car, and from there, she graduated to driving a cab for an IT company in Bangalore. She shares: “My in-laws never liked it and my husband persistently discouraged me, though my parents, my two sons, my friends were happy and supportive. I liked driving and I continued for five years. Then I found the job of driving a school bus and continued there for 18 months even though the salary was not much.”
Almost a year ago, she approached Royal Tourist, which offers school transportation services in Bangalore city, looking for a better paying job and gave a test. After passing the test with flying colours, Mamatha secured the job and was placed with a popular school in the city as the only woman driver there.
She says: “It hurts my husband’s siblings and his mother that not only am I working but that it is a man’s job and hence unsuitable for me. They hate it that it is a better working position than my husband’s. This has created a deep rift between us. Bitter fights have resulted in my living separately with my sons.”
Standing tall and strong, this lady has gone one step further and bought a piece of land and is now building a house of her own. She adds: “I am doing it all from my own salary. I pay an EMI of Rs. 30,000 from my own pocket. I am not dependent on my husband.”
Mamatha displays a fine balance between her head and her heart, between her logic & practicality and her emotions. When she leaves home, she leaves the negativity and the stress behind her.
“I love it when the kids and teachers at the school vie for me to drive their route bus. I encounter many kinds of people when driving down my route. Some bikers play pranks by weaving in and out of my path, other bus drivers do a double-take seeing me at the wheel and some others request to take photographs with me because they liked seeing me driving a bus,” she says smilingly. And it is normal for the kids in her bus to see her changing a punctured tyre or two en route. She feels, “all the feedback is like blessings to me”.
Her only message for girls is – if you sit within four walls, you cannot achieve anything… taking an action will help you reach your goal and realise your dream.
Despite heavy odds, Mamatha is achieving exactly this.