“There is nothing a woman can’t do,” says 33-year-old Vankadarath Saritha, a resident of Nalgonda district. She has her fingers crossed after giving an interview for a job in the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) on Sunday.
The journey to become a bus driver began nearly 15 years ago, she says. It was a means to financially support her parents.
Saritha drove for four years in Hyderabad before moving on to work as a bus driver for Holy Mary College in the city.
Being behind the wheels of a public transport bus isn’t new to her. Saritha has been working in the capital for the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) for two-and-a-half years. Currently posted at Sarojini Nagar depot in New Delhi, she drives nearly 135 km a day.
But her stint with DTC was only temporary. And with Saritha being from an economically weak background, a government job, she says, would give her family financial stability.
Ask her about being behind the wheel of a bus and Saritha says:
Having driven a bus for nine years now, she observes, “It is important that stereotypes of women not being able to drive buses be broken.”
She had moved to New Delhi in 2012 with an NGO, driving a taxi for three years before applying for DTC.
Sporting a shirt and a pair of trousers, and with her hair cut short, Saritha proudly says, “There are no jobs only for men, there is nothing a woman can’t do. It’s just that one has to trust themselves and stop thinking what others will think.”
On Friday, Saritha became the first woman in Telangana to apply for the bus driver’s post at TSRTC.
If Saritha is successful, she will become the state’s first woman bus driver.
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