By Manoj Kumar Jena, OP
Nabarangpur: Children in Junapani, a remote hamlet under Chandahandi block of Nabarangpur district, have a happy ride to their school every morning in a battery-operated auto-rickshaw. They seldom complain as the driver provides them with all the care and protection which their mothers offer them back home.
This is because the driver Laxmi Sinha is a mother, and the rent she gets from parents for carrying the tiny tots to school in her rickshaw is necessary to run her household and meet the needs of her six-year-old daughter. “Being a mother helps me understand the psychology and needs of children,” says Laxmi, who is in her early 30s.
When she is not driving kids to school, Laxmi runs a tiny stall which gives her some extra income to plan her, and her daughter’s future.
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Laxmi, a single mother, learnt the hard ways of life from her early childhood days. Financial hardships in the family forced her to drop out after completing matriculation. Later, her parents arranged her wedding in 2015, hoping it would change her life. But fate had other plans.
Due to disturbances in marital life, Laxmi separated from her husband and came back to her parents’ house with her two-year-old daughter. And being a single child, Laxmi was clear that it was her turn to shoulder the responsibilities of her ailing parents and two-year-old daughter, while paying the house rent.
Not shaken by the hardships, Laxmi learnt driving by borrowing an auto-rickshaw from one of her relatives. After honing her driving skills, she decided to take it up as a career option to support her family.
“I sold my ancestral land to purchase an electric auto,” she points out. However, the journey was far from being smooth, as unwittingly she took up a profession which was long considered a male bastion. “Being the only woman auto-driver in the village, people looked down upon me,” she says, recollecting the initial days as an auto-rickshaw driver.
However, Laxmi continued with grit and determination. “Some villagers asked me to pick up their children from home and drop them back from school every day. I readily agreed. And I’m continuing with the practice since then,” she adds.
However, soon after getting the transport contract of children, Laxmi realised the money she earned wasn’t good enough to make ends meet and fund her daughter’s education.
“I later opened a small shop in front of Chandahandi Community Health Centre (CHC). I also started offering a transport facility to patients. I started doing three jobs simultaneously,” she says with a smile.
“The tiring chore doesn’t break my spirit as I want to see my daughter well educated,” Laxmi added.
At her stall, Laxmi serves breakfast and beverages to customers. “I wake up at 3am daily to prepare breakfast and then leave to pick up schoolchildren. After dropping them at school, I take my daughter to school, and then come back to attend the shop,” Laxmi said.
Laxmi has been driving auto for three years now and is determined to continue the routine to support her family. “I haven’t got ration card, or any other government facilities yet though I had applied for those,” she laments.
“My life’s ride is full of potholes as I still face a lot of criticisms for driving an auto, but I ignore them with a smile. I know those harsh words won’t bring bread on my table. I want to take care of my ailing parents and give my daughter quality education as far as possible. I don’t want her to suffer like me,” says Laxmi with steely determination in her eyes.
