NASHIK: We’ve often heard about a female engineer, doctor, teacher, operator, and even cleaner. However, have you ever heard of a female school van driver? Deshdoot’s special ‘Navdurga’ program introduces those females who broke the shackles of stereotypes and proved that each field is gender-neutral. One needs the right amount of dedication to pursue their field of choice and taste success.
In yesterday’s interview, Dr. Vaishali Balajiwale, Executive Editor, Deshdoot and Deshdoot Times interaction with Mrs Jyoti Desale, Nashik’s very first school van driver, who drops more than 70 school and college students to their respective educational institutes from last nine years. The school van driver or most of the big vehicles are driven by the males.
In this male dominated business, Jyoti Desale entered not to earn but out of care for her daughter. As she was worried about her daughter and was not able to send her in school vans and even in school bus, Jyoti decided to drop her child by her own. From her the real journey started. Without letting her husband know, Jyoti started taking driving lessons.
“There was already a car in family which my husband wanted to sell as he has brought another one. Then I told all this to her husband, at first he was not able to give permission, a he was too worried about me. But, me and my mother in law convinced her. After that when I started dropping my daughter the neighbors, friends approached me to drop their kids to and my journey began.”
“Somehow I managed to get the license and permit from RTO. All because of my husband he helped in every step. My very first trip was in monsoon and I still remember that it was heavily raining. Now, I am ready for any obstacle. I can small repairs by myself, I change tires of my vehicles and all other basics which a van driver should know”, informed Desale in an interview.
She has more than 70 students to drop at various schools. She starts her day early as her first trip starts at early morning 6. She does around 6 trips daily. She shared that the toddlers are easier to manage as they listen to her, but the grown up ones are sometimes challenging.
As a school van driver, she’s always on her toes and hardly gets anytime from morning 6 to evening 6. She has developed these skills of time management and mapping after pursuing this career. She says, “Sometimes I get tired, but it is now my family and I have responsibility of 70 kids. We must do anything for our family. I do feel proud about myself and my job gives me satisfaction.”
