"Aam" Engagement @ Kandivli

WANDERINGS IN MAHARASHTRA

  

No sooner did my official work get over during a recent visit to Mumbai, I decided to spend some 'quality time' with truck drivers.

The only challenge was in picking the location because one bumps into hordes of them wherever I was traversing. Bombay Port Trust would have been the best choice with hundreds of heavy commercial vehicles both inside and out. I also thought of a ride on the ever-busy Mumbai-Pune Expressway over the weekend, but dropped the idea.

How about the loading area of Mahindra Tractors in Kandivli? Delhi-based Selvan Dasaraj and Mumbai's Nasarwanji Huafreed of Mahindra Logistics quickly burnt telephone wires between the political capital and commercial capital of India and gave a 'go ahead' signal.

Mind you, it was a weekend and the factory closed and therefore the chances of meeting truck drivers (both inbound and outbound) would be doubtful. Nonetheless, I was game. Uncertainty is part of life, isn't it?

Once the location finalised, the next agenda was about what to give these unsung heroes while meeting. I cannot imagine saying 'hello' to them with an empty hand. They don't need 'lectures', but I was sure they would appreciate a bit of love and affection in some form. Not the Sanjay Dutt style 'jhappi' (frontal hugging style of greeting). Something more concrete.

How about some oranges? Or banana? With wife and a family friend, stepped out to procure some fruits.

The Sundaresans – family friend with whom I was staying – and spouse Kala stepped out on a hot Mumbai afternoon in search of fruits. Though mango was the choice, which variety became the next critical issue to be decided. Hapus? Devgadh? .... 

A few tasting sessions later, the choice fell on Devgad. Since our requirement was large – 150 at least – hard bargaining transpired under the tutelage of Lalita Sundaresan. She was such a tough negotiator, the final price fell from Rs.450/dozen to Rs.280/dozen over two hour buying session.

In mid-April, with Selvan Dasaraj did we not give away over 1,000 oranges to truck drivers on highways and 1,000 soft toys to their children in Koderma, Hazaribagh, Ranchi, Barhi, Jamshedpur of Jharkhand state over a week long trip? The memories of smiling and happy faces of those drivers and their parivar (family) came rushing back.

We opted for Devgadh variety mangoes, as citrus fruits were not to be seen in Vile Parle fruit bazaar. Moreover, it was 'aam ka mausam' (It’s mango season). Picked up around 150 succulent mangoes and got them stuffed airily in polythene bags.

Meanwhile, messages came pouring in about the possibility of a few loaded trucks at the Kandivli loading yard. After seeing off my better half at Andheri station, who was on her way to Delhi via August Kranti Express, I dashed across to Kandivli in a three wheeler with several polythene bag filled mangoes, guided by Samir Rane, a senior Mahindra group executive, from his home since it was a weekend.

"Reach Gate No. 2 and someone will meet you," advised the invisible Rane over phone.

By the time my tri-wheeler reached the destination, Sujit Renose, another youthful Mahindra Logistics executive, was waiting and we moved to the loading yard, hardly 2 km away from the factory gate.

Renose has been told to assist me 'interact' with truck drivers at the loading yard.

So he was surprised to see me with some 'cargo'  - a bit heavy too.

During the short ride from factory gate to the loading yard, I briefed him about my current mission: to distribute mangoes to truck drivers and interact with them.

"Why?" the curious French bearded Mahindra Logistics executive demanded.

It is my way of showing affection and sympathies for these hapless human beings, who significantly help you and I to lead a comfortable life on a daily basis, but mostly ill-treated by all and sundry.

"Imagine a day without them," I told him.

When he heard about his own company's involvement in this kind of driver interaction programme on its own, and in association with KRK Foundation, a registered Trust floated by my family recently to improve the working and living conditions of truck drivers and their families, his enthusiasm quotient moved northwards in a single burst.

By the time, the tri-wheeler halted at the loading yard, Renose was already out with two polythene bags filled with mangoes.

Since it was a weekend and almost no loading, the yard was bereft of any activity. But it was not empty either. We could spot several vehicles which would wait over the weekend to pick up loads next working day.

Drivers were lazing around. Playing cards under trucks. Cooking dinner in open. Or even inside the driver cabins! Or simply sleeping, braving the hot May Mumbai weather.

We could watch some drivers and assistants walking into the nearby bushes with Coke/Pepsi bottles filled with water to perform ablutions.

This yard is nothing new to me. In 2011, I had spent an entire night in the company of Zubair Khan, who drove trucks for Rinku Commercial Carriers of Anand carrying Mahindra tractors from Kandivli to other locations. That trip from Kandivli to Dharwad was still green in my memory since during that trip, my gold chain was snatched in a midnight operation by an unseen thief near Kolhapur and which I had written about (At Razor's Edge, 10,000 Km on Indian Highways (Second Edition), pp.10-15).

Renose's modus operandi was simple: he would approach drivers, dig into the polythene bag, pick a solitary mango and hand over to the suspicious-looking recipient. When confronted with "What's the objective?" from drivers, he would explain to them the purpose of my visit and a little about my background and my 'interest' in truck drivers' lives.

One by one, they would climb down or step out and come closer to where I used to stand and say thanks not verbally, but with a smile.

Most of them hail from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra and language is no barrier. During the interaction when they realize that I had indeed travelled in trucks - like them for 21,000 Km over three years - to understand their lives, they become relaxed. Perhaps, they feel a sense of ‘kinship’.

Most of the districts or villages they come from whichever part of India is nothing alien to me. I had certainly touched those points in my sojourn.

Their concern is universal: RTO challenges, lack of resting facility on highways. Absence of toilet facilities. Absence of a structured employment, thus depriving them and their families of social security net.

The topic of sex on highways did crop up. When they are away from home for months together, the physical intimacy assumes gigantic proportions. Why not safe sex by using condoms? Unlike the truck drivers outside Chinchwad loading yard who had argued with me in 2010 that animals don't use condoms, the Kandivli lot giggled. A young driver, married for three years, confessed to 'maintaining control' over his sexual urges, much to the amusement of his peers!

While highways have improved a great deal, they were critical of lack of facilities for long distance truck drivers en route. "Nobody is bothered about us," quipped a 40 plus driver.

Highway heists are on the rise, it is pointed out. Are they not responsible in a way when they deliberately disconnect GPS machines? Is it not true that they halt their vehicles on the roadside overnight without any security for the cargo to visit their families living in nearby villages? There were no responses and I did not expect one because it is a regular practice.

I left them for a while to ruminate and enjoy mangoes. Why are they cooking in open space or inside driver cabins? Unhygienic and risky propositions, respectively. Why are they moving behind bushes with Coke/Pepsi bottles? Why not such loading yards be equipped with basic kitchen infrastructure and toilets?

"We can and should improve the facilities for them at points which are under our control, viz.,  the loading points," says Jaiveer Johal of Johal Logistics. "In Chennai, for example we have a rest house for drivers, where once they return they can have a bath, get some sleep. Providing them a room with fans, kitchen with basic utensils and gas connection for cooking. The costs of this are negligible; the rested driver is priceless as he's carrying/driving goods worth several million rupees," adds he.

Capt. Gur-Prasad Kohli of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics India is credited with the view that if we collect Rs.10 for each vehicle produced in the country, i.e. Tractor, CV, Passenger Car, maybe 5+5 between OEM and LSP, with some land allocated by OEMs it should be sufficient to maintain and run rest houses for drivers at all loading points.

As I was exiting the loading yard, someone asked: "Are you contesting some election? ... If not, why this mango distribution?"

I smiled and moved on.

*-‘Aam’, a Hindi word, means mango as well as general public.


ALSO READ:

http://driversduniya.blogspot.in/2013/08/baara-anna-jhoot-chaar-anna-sach.html

http://driversduniya.blogspot.in/2013/08/troubling-truck-on-highways-offer-liquor.html