A few minutes past noon on a sunny day, P. Muthu Lakshmi was taking a short break from work to have a soda on the roadside. Even as she was waiting for the drink, her phone chimed, alerting her about a ride request.
She cancelled the drink, accepted the request and got behind the wheel looking for the pick-up location on her smartphone. While such situations have become common for the 38-year-old auto driver, one of the few independent women drivers in the city and a single mother, driving an autorickshaw among a sea of male drivers and men who stare, from the past three years was itself a challenge.
"But I overcame it with determination after making up my mind three years ago to break the glass ceiling and be financially independent and self-sustainable," Ms. Lakshmi, a degree dropout said. She also faced opposition from family members and some of her women passengers. "But there are women who feel happy upon seeing me riding an auto. They feel safe and elated and even take selfies with me," she said.
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Hailing from Undavalli in the capital region, where she lives with her daughter and mother, Ms. Lakshmi reaches the city every day by 10 a.m. and leaves at around 8 p.m., serving an average of about 15 passengers in a day.
She takes care of her mother as well as her daughter, a Class X student, as a sole breadwinner of the family.
Asked why she chose to drive the auto for a living, Ms. Lakshmi says, "I have worked at malls, cosmetics stores and others, but the pay was low and there was no independence. Later, I applied for an auto-rickshaw licence at Navuluru RTO and also got finance to buy the auto after which I never looked back."
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Ms. Lakhsmi who got married in 1998 lost her husband in 2010 and was necked out by her in-laws forcing her to start a new life with minimal family support.
Struggling for pension, loan
"The family left me as I have a girl child and I went to my mother. I only had a little insurance amount to survive. I have applied for widow’s pension about a dozen times in the meantime, but there was no official help. Also, I have applied for a loan with Kapu Corporation, but did not get it either," she said.
However, the app-based auto booking service Ola has been helping Ms. Lakshmi for a year.
"I get most of the passengers through the app which keeps me busy. Sometimes I don't get time to have lunch, which I carry in a box with me," she said.
But for women to feel more comfortable at such unconventional jobs, Ms. Lakshmi wants more women to come forward and take them up.