Commuters’ tales: Friendly ‘auto akka’ makes female passengers feel safe

It is very rare to find women auto drivers in Chennai and I had the fortune of meeting Raji akka, who has been driving an auto rickshaw for the past 21 years. It was pretty late in the evening and I had just finished meeting a friend in Perambur. I usually travel by taxi but on that particular day, I can’t remember if it was taking too long to find a ride or no one was accepting — so I just hailed a running auto. To my surprise, it was a woman driver and her warm smile made me instantly forget my paranoia and fear of the dark. After telling her where I had to go and discussing the fare, I stepped in and we began to chat. She told me that her name was Raji and that she resided close by. We had a great time during the ride and conversed about everything under the sun from politics to the elections, water crisis and my profession.

Then we began discussing women’s safety while travelling at night. “Oh, I have seen and heard of so many harrowing incidents, where male drivers behave funnily with female passengers. I don’t know what gives them the courage to do so. Don’t they have a mother or sisters?” she asked me. I just rolled my eyes for it was a question I had asked too many times. Her next statement caught me by surprise again. “But don’t worry, I’ll give you my phone number. Next time you need a ride, you can trust this Raji akka and call me no matter how late at night it is,” she said and stopped at my destination. I thanked her for her number, paid her the amount and walked away with my faith in human restored. It felt good to know there are people like her out there to care for women.

— Keerthana Kumar works in a tech-based startup