On the road with

Dar’Sel’Jamshedpur to Delhi

1-8 June, 2015

PART TEN

RAMESH KUMARChairperson,

KRK Foundation +Co-Founder,

Transport Mitra Services

Day 5: Drove down 20 odd km to Ichak through narrow passage – some concrete-paved, some kucha rasta for meeting Darcl Pilot parivar with gifts. Women thrilled with sarees. Quickly packets opened and color and saree length debate began.

Darcl Pilot Parivar freak out over gifts. Kids gladly receive cricket bat/ball, dance and share their dreams. The visit by Darcl team galvanises them a great deal. Nothing to match the personal touch.

Darcl Pilots’ favourite Vinay Dhaba @ Hazaribagh on NH33. Fleet controller Subhajit Chatterjee chats up with his folks, whom he talks to daily, but seldom met.

At this Indian Oil Retail Outlet, Subhajit collects sample fuel to consider fuel filling for his fleet on Faridabad-Jamshedpur route.

Surprisingly, this IOC outlet has a Driver Rest Room Facility. But occupied by dealers’ staff and they affirm that it is NOT meant for drivers!

Hello, IOC, are you listening?

Adjacent to the IOC pump on Hazaribagh-Barhi road onNH33, we bump into two jockey drivers from Chennai to Patna at the dhaba owned by the same IOC dealer. An interesting debate on value of human relationship between Akib Ahmed and Mirzabhai over hot chai. They halted to avoid night time driving due to tricky ghat section and the naxalite-infested area. Why take risk? Sharma, Mirzhabhai’s colleague, from Rajasthan, says drivers’ lives are not valued correctly by owners, government etc.

Day 6: Ran out of sarees for distribution. So fresh buy @ Barhi, Jharkhand

Darcl pilots from Barhi arrive in advance to escort us. Fresh stock of biscuits, toffees and lollipops get loaded.

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Another IOC outlet, Barhi, Jharkhand on NH2. Exterior good. Poor maintenance of Driver Rest Room Facilities. Who’s responsible: IOC or its dealer?

Destination: Dapok village, 20 km form NH 2 (Barhi), that sends a huge chunk of Darcl pilots. Women, kids and elders gather in the local school ground. Subhajit Chatterjee spells out Darcl plans for Pilots Parivar.

Gifting @ Dapok village

Kids go berserk with sports item and lollipops. Women curiously chat about the color and fabric of sarees received.

What a reception? Gift or no gift, the fact that Darcl officials came to their village – far away from cities/towns – is a big thing for these Darcl Pilot Parivar. A smile. A handshake. Dhanyavaad!

More stoppages before exiting Dapok village. Word spreads like wildlife about the visit of Darcl officials and pilot parviar throng the narrow gullies and wait under the banyan tree as well.

Another family waits on the highway for an interaction with us. Brilliant kids with high ambitions, whom Darcl promises to support.

At last, we exit Jharkhand! What a scintillating week it was. Hang on, the trip is NOT over yet!