I recently stayed at the ITC Maurya as a part of their Responsible Fellowship Program. However, that story will wait for a while as there will be videos to go along with it. But I had the most pleasant surprise on my way back home, my driver was Seema and it was my first experience of interacting with a woman taxi driver in Delhi!
The women connection immediately clicked and we started chatting. I asked her how did she decide to become a taxi driver? She said her parents were not happy at all with her decision initially. She learned driving with the help of Azad Foundation! Her parents wanted her to learn sewing instead of driving and she tried her hands at it for a while! But she gave it up after a few days, she was just not cut out for sewing! She wanted to be outdoors and driving felt like a nice calling!
I asked her if it was easy to drive on the Delhi roads? She had no complaints about driving in the Delhi Traffic. She also was happy working with the hotel travel agency, she was only assigned day duty.
She told me it had been six years since she was driving, 5 years she worked with the Azad Foundation’s Taxi Service, Sakha. She and a friend of her’s, Savita shifted together to ITC one year ago!
She loves driving for the hotel as she gets to meet guests from all walks of life. She enjoys gathering information about other countries by talking to the foreign guests!
I asked her what was the most challenging aspect of her job? She said if she was on a day long sight-seeing duty in Delhi, the lack of washrooms was her biggest challenge! Other than that, nothing else bothered her too much!
She said her parents were now happy with her decision! She liked her job as well! And I was happy that I met her!
I started my India travel blog, Travel Tales from India in 2005. In 2016 I realized Travel Tales from India and Abroad better reflected my writings. I love to walk and ride in metros around the world. I have not been everywhere, I am not even close, but it is on my list. I also quit my job as a professor in 2015, it was a happening year! I did a Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur ages ago!
If you wish to collaborate with me, please check out my media kit. You can write to me at mridulablog@gmail.com
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