For this 31-year-old woman, it is a long and tough journey from Tamil Nadu to Gujarat. The bone rattling travel is not by train or by bus. Her trip is by heavy transport vehicle (HTV) that too at the wheel.
Yes, Jothimani Gowthaman from Gopichettipallayam in Erode district in Tamil Nadu is the first woman truck driver in the state. A mother of two children, she drives to various places also on her 10-wheel truck carrying a 16-tonne huge consignment.
A few years back, she learnt driving from her husband, who is also a truck driver. Jothimani deftly steers her way even in the crowded streets of the cities.
Even today, generally trucks are driven by men. But for Jothimani tough work did not rattle her and she is determined to take up the next level of long journey. “My first stint behind the wheel was when my husband taught me to drive a truck six years ago. I learnt patiently and it worked very well,” Jothimani recollects.
She says: “Picking up to drive any vehicle is like learning to swim or ride a bicycle and once you get over the initial hesitation, it makes you feel confident.”
In the beginning, she was driving once in a while and at times of need. Slowly, she became a full-fledged driver and has been regularly on roads in the last couple of years.
“My husband owned a truck. We appointed a driver to help my husband while driving. However, he did not take his job seriously and made us incur huge losses,” Jothimani said.
“During my first trip, I went to Hyderabad with my husband. That gave me a lot of real time experience. From then onwards, I started taking the goods to other states alone,” she recollected her maiden venture.
On her securing driving licence, she said: “I was bit tense when the RTO official asked me to drive the truck. The official was amazed that I made a short turn and stopped at the right place,” Jothimani said.
She added as a matter of fact that convincing officials at the RTO for a licence was more difficult than learning driving. After getting her licence, her husband bought another vehicle, which is now operated by Jothimani.
She has carried heavy goods like huge printing machines, garments and consumer products across several states in India. “If me and my husband are away from home to deliver goods, children are under the care of their grandmother,” she said.
Since Jothimani comes from a conservative background, it took her a long time to persuade her family and her husband to let her drive the truck. Now, she asserts: “I am surely sensing the empowerment. I have my own identity other than being wife and mother.”
However, the driving comes with its own set of challenges. Sometimes in highways other truck drivers try to overtake or distract her. She says that being a woman she faces harassment at the hands of police and RTO officials during her work.
She said many youngsters looked at awe when they see her driving because they know it is a difficult job. By now, she is used to people coming and shaking hands and praising her bold decision. It is really encouraging, she said.
Jothimani, who comes from a lower middle class family, said that the job involved challenge and risks. But she needs to do it to support her family. Additional income would reduce the burden on the family.
Claiming that she has driven more than four lakh kilometres since she was given her HTV licence in 2012, Jothimani said that roads in south India are the best to drive on. “Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are not that good,” she said. “Every month, I travel more than 12,000 kilometres,” she said.
Another big challenge Jothimani faces is communication. “Earlier, I found it difficult to communicate with policemen and other RTO officials since I did not know English much. However, I learnt Hindi slowly and now manage to answer their questions,” she said.
Her husband Gowthaman is now supportive of her work, she says. “He helps me a lot by advising on road routes and the charges to be collected for transporting the luggage. But he gets very worried when I get late,” she says.
Clad in khaki shirt over her churidar, she may appear like a man at first sight when she is sitting inside her truck, but she never thought herself less than anyone. Though Jothimani is taking utmost care in driving, she met with a minor accident three years back in Maharashtra. “That was a bad experience. Due to brake failure, my vehicle rear-ended another truck,” she said.
For Jothimani it is another few years before she hopes to retire. “My children would have settled by then. With our current earnings, I hope we will open a transport agency in our district. We need little more money for that,” she said. “Perhaps, I will help my husband till 2020 and then I will step down from the vehicle. Till then my journey will continue,” she said.
Her favourite consignment is cotton goods. "There are better margins in these consignments. The worst is carrying medicines. They break and sometime they leak,” she said.
“From my experience, women can learn that no job is meant only for men. Women can do anything provided they have confidence and believe in their strength,” Jothimani said.
Gowthaman says that Jothimani gives immense support to his career. “Her support gives added strength to my business. I am planning to buy another truck to expand my business.”