Thirty-six year old Ganga Reddy Venkatappa made Bengaluru her home in 2003. Initially a housewife, she says, “It was hard to make ends met with just one salary. My husband works for the railways. Since I had done my B.Ed, I decided to take tuitions and also worked in a near by school as a nursery and primary school teacher.” starts off Ganga.
“In spite of 20 years of teaching experience, my salary was never increased,” adds Ganga who started taking tuitions to bring in that extra income.
A year ago, she saw an ad by Ola in a newspaper calling women to apply as cab drivers. Excited she read it out to her husband who was “upset and discouraged me. But, the ad said I could choose my work time and days. I could work full time or part time and that I would be my own master.”
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She called Ola and took an appointment. They taught me driving and “I quit my teaching job. With the money I saved I paid the down payment for the car and bought it. Ola helped me get the yellow board and my licence. Ever since there has been no looking back.”
Ganga did all this in secret with help from her teenage kids, without her husband’s knowledge.
She and her children even found a “safe place a little away from home to park the car and started driving within the same school timings so that there would be no suspicion. This went on for a few months, and my earnings doubled. Soon we cleared off our debts and were living comfortably. I did not regret giving up my job,” she says with a sense of adventure.
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But, her son burst the bubble one calm Sunday.
“He insisted I take them for a long drive and my husband started questioning us. That was a tense moment. We told him the truth. Curious, he first saw the car and volunteered to be a part of the long drive! Finally he gave me a thumbs-up. Even though he supports me now, he does feel awkward to introduce me as a cab driver to relatives and friends,” explains Ganga.
Now the schedule of her family has changed.
“As my children are in class 9 and 10, the family wakes up at 3 a.m. By 4 a.m. my husband and I finish the cooking and pack them off to their tuitions. By 5 a.m. both of us hit the road – he for his job and I log in and drive till 11 a.m. After which I go home, finish off the remaining household chores and rest till 4 p.m. Then it’s back on the road till 11 or 12 at night.”
Ganga encourages women to become cab drivers.
“This profession is safe for women as everything is recorded by the tiny log-in machine. We earn bonus too if we make quite a few trips a day! People find driving in Bengaluru hectic, but I enjoy it. It was always a dream to drive, now I get paid to do what I love,” beams the petite Ganga.
About the challenges she says, “Are the occasional rude comments by people, when they see me drive a cab.”