On the road with

Dar’Sel’Jamshedpur to Delhi

1-8 June, 2015

PART ELEVEN

RAMESH KUMARChairperson,

KRK Foundation +Co-Founder,

Transport Mitra Services

It’s lonely at the top is what we usually hear about the top management. The same is true at the bottom of pyramid as well.

Once the pilot is out on highways with load, he is expected to fend for himself. Actually, he is a multi-tasker as Transport Mitra Selvan reminds.

“Surprising to notice this in this age of specialisation and core competence debate,” says he.

What does he mean? ….

A pilot, according to Selvan, does the following:

1. Drives vehicle (that’s his core competence)2. Safeguards vehicle & cargo3. Handles En route payments (toll, interstate

border fees, octroi, commercial tax, municipal taxes etc)

4. Sorts out bribe issue with authorities on highways

5. Manages interstate crossing documents6. Attends to minor repairs en route7. Lives unstructured life on travel (night

driving, sleeping inside cabins)

Maybe more … In reality, he is hired for items 1, 2 and 6, but asked to handle other items as well.

If this is not multi-tasking, what else?

Remember, he is supposed to be illiterate!

One notices Subhajit Chatterjee aka “Dada”, is always on the phone throughout the trip. With multiple phones. Pilots reaching out to him on a variety of en route issues all the time. He is free only when his batteries are down and hence unreachable for any pilot seeking him.

He’s sort of one man army.

Whether he is an MBA grad or not, no idea. But he has to decide quickly – on the spot most of the time – to ensure the business does not suffer. Vehicles move seamlessly and customers don’t complaint about non-delivery or late delivery.

No sooner did we exit Jharkhand and about to enter Bihar border, we run into this Darcl driver. Some mechanical hassle with his vehicle that is moving towards Kolkota.

This is a hilly stretch and stranded due to absence of assistance. His mobile is down. Even if works, network challenge. Height of summer and in the middle of highway.

Luckily, Dada spots the troubled vehicle and its pilot and offers him fruits, water and tries to sort out his challenge.

A few kilometres down the highway, Dada alerts other Darcl drivers proceeding in the same direction where the vehicle is stranded, to help him.

Darcl Pilots, we bump into en route, are greeted with balancia (santra) and Glucose D.

Subhajit hears them out as they list out their challenges on highways.

By the way, almost every single Darcl pilot knows Dada. They heard him over phone multiple times on any day. But seldom seen. He’s something like an Invisible Man! Or God?

He knows them quickly by their gaddi number! Typical transport wala!

Every time I notice pilots cooking on the roadside and eating there itself across India, I am reminded of whoever is the Minister for Road Transport & Highways at the Centre. Now, it is Nitin Gadkari who promises to improve ‘wayside amenities’ for long haul pilots. The law of the land stipulates that amenities be created every 300 km on highways. But the moot question: who will bell the cat – the government, HCV OEMs, fleet owners?

Oil marketing companies – IOC, BPCL, HPCL – with more than 30000 outlets on highways are supposed to meet their biggest customer: disel buying vehicle owners. What these profit-making PSUs are actually doing is seen to be believed!

As the sun begins to complete its daily task and prepares to go home, we halt for a fresh round of chai-paani on NH2 linking Kolkota with Delhi.

Just cannot help noticing the carefree attitude of Indians. Travelling on rooftops of passenger buses is a routine right across India. No concern for safety of their lives. Neither the pilot/conductor of this bus nor those who riding on top care too hoots for their lives. India’s 2014 road fatality tally (read, ‘dead’) was: 1,38 lakhs.

It’s pitch dark and past 10 in the night as we arrive at our final halt for Day 6: ABS Motor, a Tata Motors authorised workshop. Its malik Bhupinder Singh also owns an IOC pump at Nabatpur, Uttar Pradesh on the highway. Plus a truckers dhaba and parking lot for several transport companies, except Darcl! Not to be left out is the cowshed as part of his ‘empire’. He escorts us to Benares – 50 km away for our night halt. Next day, we pass this outlet in the reverse direction for another IOC dealer meeting.