The youngest of seven siblings, Sumi-tra came to Kathmandu from Jhapa with hopes of joining the police. But the demand of heavy bribes forced her to leave her aspirations.[break]
However, Sumitra didn’t take it as a failure but rather as a motivation. And the law graduate went on to do something no women of her time had the guts to do—to drive a Safa tempo. The year was 1996, and Sumitra was 24 years old.“I first drove on route five, which ran from Bansbari to Balkhu,” recalls Sumitra, sitting in the tiny office of her driving school at Gairi Dhara. Numerous laminated newspaper clippings lay scattered on her table. Her achievement had made front-page headlines of various dailies back then.
Nonetheless, what made a bigger difference weren’t the headlines but her commitment to train other women to drive safa tempos (electric three wheelers).“I took a heavy loan and purchased a tempo and made a vow to train at least 14 women,” she slams her fist on her table with great vigor. “I wanted to make these women, who were from poor backgrounds, capable of making a living,” asserts Sumitra and furthers, “But even after training them, many men hesitated to give them jobs.” One of the unfair rules applied to women drivers by tempo owners was ‘no scratches on the tempo for three months.’Taking all responsibilities and risks for the women she trained, Sumitra got them jobs.
Eventually, she established her own driving school, Mahila Mankamana Driving Center.
In the past 13 years, Sumitra, now 37, has taught over 3,000 men and women to drive, many of whom own tempos today. As she took upon the mission to empower women through her driving school, Sumitra also forwarded her wish to drive more than just a tempo.
“I went on to drive a taxi, microbus and big buses too,” she shares, showing a black and white photograph. Sumitra, on the day of her marriage, drove to her husband’s house in a tempo.
“I never rest,” she reaffirms what the image already tells. Several women, even educated ones, end up as homemakers after marriage. However, neither marriage nor pregnancy stopped the fierce Sumitra from working. A year into her marriage, Sumitra learned to drive the now obsolete electronic trolley buses. Five months pregnant with her first child, she was not only driving but also black-topping roads from Jorpati to Sundarijal.
“Look at me, I look so large,” laughs the mother of two, showing another photograph where she is seen driving a bulldozer. In 2003, she got her license to drive a train on the Janakpur-Jaya Nagar railway service. “The then government funded my trolley bus, train and ship trainings,” adds Sumitra, who went to Kolkata to learn how to pilot a ship.
Sumitra’s only dream that remains unaccomplished now is to get a Commercial Pilot License (CPL) to fly an airplane.
Sumitra had started her pilot training with Shivani Air which unfortunately went out of business.
“The government had initially promised to support my training abroad but it seems that their decisions have changed,” she laments.
According to her, it would be a world record if she gets a CPL. “Why aren’t they encouraging and supporting women like me?” she questions furiously.
Lately, it isn’t just the government’s empty promise that has saddened this woman who has been contributing incessantly to the society.
“During the April uprising in 2006, I held a Curfew Vehicle Pass and transported the wounded to hospitals,” she narrates and continues, “But in the recent strike, my car was vandalized by the Maoists when I was taking a sick woman to the hospital.” She is frustrated by the negative responses from the Maoists and the government to compensate for her losses. “Why are we paying taxes if we aren’t getting the security we need?”
Yet Sumitra says that she will not let pessimism affect her. “Just because I’m upset, I can’t go around vandalizing, too,” she reflects wisely.
“It’s the evils of this society that brought me to this point. No one encouraged me,” she answers when asked why she chose to become a safa driver despite a degree in law and while she was pursuing a Masters in Political Science (which remains incomplete).
She goes on to quote King Prithvi Narayan Shah, “Those who take as well as give bribes are both enemies of the country. I became a driver to pass on that message.”
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