KANNIYAKUMARI: Like many, M Vasanthakumari was unaware of the gender divide in her childhood. In Elavuvilai, her tiny hamlet in Kanniyakumari’s Tholayavattam, she did not see any woman behind the wheel of heavy vehicles. It was an all-out male domain. For someone who lost her mother and maternal grandmother at a young age, there were bigger struggles to drive herself out of the woes. Her father had remarried; she was being raised by her elder maternal uncle Ramalingam. The agony of losing the two women reflected badly on her studies. She dropped out of school in Class 10. It was then she was introduced to driving by her cousin T Thangarajan. Following the order of progression, Vasanthakumari mastered the art of driving two-wheelers before moving on to four-wheelers, mini-lorries, and lorries (heavy vehicles). While her driving skill had died a natural death after her marriage at the age of 19, the dormant urge, along with a need to earn a livelihood for her family, propelled her to take up driving as a profession. It was then that she joined a driving school. Vasanthakumari was the only woman at the driving school at Palliyadi.
Although her batchmates, all males, were amiable and the school’s owner encouraging of her, discomfort lingered. Back to reality, random men would whistle at the sight of her attempting to drive a bus or a lorry. But nothing stopped her from changing the gears of her life. So, when Vasanthakumari could not crack the interview round at Nagercoil due to the authorities failing to correctly measure her height (162 cm), she approached the then-chief minister J Jayalalithaa and requested her to measure her height again. The CM ordered to conduct the interview round again and Vasanthakumari qualified the round to appear for the physical review and driving tests before receiving her appointment order from Jayalalithaa herself on March 30, 1993. The date is etched in Vasanthakumari’s soul since that was the day she was crowned as the first woman bus driver for TNSTC. Her first job entailed covering the route between Kottar Abdul Khader Hospital and Putheri. Although men watched her in surprise, Vasanthakumari now wore the khaki uniform of a government employee and commanded respect equal to her male colleagues. Vasanthakumari has since covered Tirunelveli , Thoothukudi and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
After 24 years of service, Vasanthakumari retired in 2017. The 64- year-old continues to be a role model for drivers and women alike and has received recognition even after her retirement. Vasanthakumari, a diabetic patient who has undergone angioplasty, continues to help the elderly and the needy in her village. From driving the aged to the hospital in her own car to working for women’s rights, Vasanthakumari has done it all. S Rajkumar, who was the first conductor to work with Vasanthakumari, said she decisively took the wheels and drove some misconceptions off the mindsets of passengers. She also helped many students while in service, he added. Prior to joining service, she served as the director of a cooperative credit society at Reethapuram and had contested in the town panchayat elections, but lost. This never deterred her from helping people. Even her marriage was her way to help her husband, a widower with his four daughters. A young Vasanthakumari overlooked the 20-year age gap and married him to look after his children. CITU Transport Workers Sangam’s district general secretary C Suresh Kumar said she did not let any male authorities intimidate her during her tenure. For her Asia Book of Record, she was felicitated by district collector PN Sridhar at the collectorate. Vasanthakumari’s ultimate dream is to see more women take the wheel.
(Edited by Shrija Ganguly)