In the frenzy that is Bengaluru's traffic, the 22-year-old
Yellamma drives an autorickshaw while she prepares for the
Indian Administrative Service examinations.
Economic Times
Forced to marry a flower decorator when she was 18,
Yellamma is now a single mother with a two-year-old boy.
The gritty woman rented an autorickshaw and learnt to drive
it with her brother-in-law's help.
Autorickshaw owners refused to rent a vehicle because they
won't give one to a woman. A mechanic finally agreed to rent
me an auto for 130 per day," Yellamma says.
She drives from 6 am to 8 pm and wastes no time between
two trips, devouring magazines and newspapers in her free
time. She is studying for her PUC although her ultimate goal
is the IAS. Why? "Because I want to help other women."
Yellamma says that she encounters a strange hostility from
male autorickshaw drivers. " "They say I'm snatching their
customers away."
Passengers have been good to her. "They are curious and ask
me to narrate my story. They encourage me to study on and
even pay Rs 10-20 over and above the meter." Yellamma
earns Rs 700-800 a day and is left with almost half of that
after paying for the auto's rent and fuel.
