Courtesy Jehaan Kotwal, I know Pawan Sharma Asopa from Navi Mumbai. Interesting character with interest in multiple things. Our common connect is driver welfare and fighting corruption on highways.
Recently we travelled Mumbai-Nasik-Mumbai on road and that's when his interest in meditation become apparent. Actually he took me to the Vipasanna centre at Igatpuri. He did a short course there and since then exploring to teach truck drivers "meditation".
According to him, it is the best medicine-free stress buster.
Truck drivers and meditation? Possible. Meditation is nothing but trying to keep the mind and body at peace. Very challenging. Mental turbulence does not differentiate between the educated and uneducated. It attacks or engulfs both.
More the educated, more the disturbance is my conviction. Don't know about you.
Truck drivers and mental stress go together. Inseparable. For a variety of reasons.
Truck drivers, away from home and alone on the empty and sparsely populated highways at day or night, with or without driver assist, music blaring from their cheap sound system, need greater concentration for safe driving.
Distractions come in various forms; phone calls from family or friends or colleagues mostly. Or from office supervisors keeping track of their movement. GPS? Forget it. Even if it is functional, nothing like the conventional one on one talk. Right?
Distracted driving is a pain area from the safety perspective. Added to these tangible turbulance is the fear factor. Drivers worry a lot about what lies ahead on the road ahead. Not from naxalites or anti-social elements. But corrupt, rent-seeking highway officials working for the state transport departments who hang around on the edges of highways at multiple locations - district wise in each state - to bounce on the gullible drivers to extort illegal money.
Drivers desire to avoid such elements. Purely out of self interest. How and why?
Fleet owners pay peanuts to drivers in India. Most of the time, a four digit amount just on paper. But give good amount of money to bribe highway vultures grudgingly - running into thousands of rupees per trip - to ensure timely delivery. Again self interest of fleet owners.
Drivers look at this as a bonanza that can be usurped if they can avoid the corrupt vultures. No bribery translates into their pockets bulging. Hence the worry, which affects their mental balance.
Tension, tension, tension from trip start to trip finish.
Hence, Pawan Asopa's prescription for meditation to achieve mental equilibrium under all circumstances makes sense. A fortnight ago, the tall Rajasthani do-gooder noticed Linde trucks parked on the road side and during interaction with drivers learnt the placement of cameras inside cabins from safety perspective and drivers' disenchantment with such "big brother watch" always.
Following a quick conversation with some multinational company's logistics officials, he is selling the concept of meditation - not medication - to truck drivers. Worth trying. His choice of approaching MNCs is spot on. Because only these foreign companies give adequate importance to road safety and willing to invest. Yes, invest is the key word. It is not an expenditure but an investment to ensure just not safe delivery of their consignment but equally saving several valuable human lives. Desi companies, however big or small, are found wanting in this sphere. Shame.
Will fleet owners pay for such services? Pawan's services are not free. Marginal fee, he charges. Secondly, will drivers be interested in learning 'meditation?. Worth trying, again.
Good luck, Pawan!
Pawan Sharma Asopa is reachable at +91 9324024111
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