KOCHI: It was the first day of duty for Sreerag R Y after he landed on his job of that of a KSRTC driver. He waited for his mother Yamuna R, the first woman conductor of KSRTC's SWIFT service, to give the double bell to start the trip on Sunday as passengers of the electric bus operating in the Kannammoola-Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram were all amused to see the mother-son duo as the crew.
Yamuna has been serving the KSRTC (Kerala State Road Transport Corporation) since 2009. She worked as a conductor with the Aryanad depot till 2022 before being deployed with the KSRTC's newly started SWIFT wing as its first woman conductor. On Sunday, she was all smiles as she too badly wanted her son to get his long-cherished job.
"I joined KSRTC when he was studying in Class 7. He used to accompany his father when the latter dropped and picked me up after duty. Even then the boy was fascinated by the driving seat and steering. A couple of times, he even stealthy went and sat on the driver's seat of parked buses. When he grew up he used to drive a lot of vehicles. His favourite is the jeep. Years later, I'm very happy that he got his long-cherished job," a beaming Yamuna told TNIE.
And it was Yamuna who noticed the vacancy and asked her son to apply for the driver's vacancy nearly four months back. "He was anxious about the written test, but he passed both the written and practical tests comfortably. For the last four months, he was eagerly waiting for a call from the KSRTC each day," Yamuna said.
Sreerag, 27, too said he had the passion for driving from a tender age itself, a reason that he attributes to frequent travelling in the KSRTC bus along with his mother. He was working as a temporary driver with the Forest Department before joining KSRTC last week. And he had one request to the authorities -- to let him work with his mother on the first day of duty. The authorities had no hesitation and deployed the mother-son duo as the crew of the bus operating in the busy city route.
"It was an unforgettable day for me as I could work with my mother, my mentor. We brought home-made food and shared the same. She was very happy to see me driving responsibly and carefully," said Sreerag. Sreerag had obtained a conductor license earlier like his mother much earlier, but he wanted to follow his passion and become a driver.
Yamuna's husband, Rajendran Asari is a workshop employee while her younger son Siddharth works as a temporary employee with the Muttathara Engineering College. For the last couple of years, Yamuna has been residing at a women's hostel since she was attached with the city depot, which was far away from their house at Aryanad.
"I was really missing my two sons and now I'm extremely glad that I can be with Sreerag even during the duty hours. He was deployed on my route yesterday and today (Monday) too we are working together. I don't know whether they will change the schedule. But it's like home for me working along with my son," Yamuna said.