Mission Delhi - Renu Prajapati, Near Gurgaon Bus Stand

Mission Delhi – Renu Prajapati, Near Gurgaon Bus Stand

Mission Delhi - Renu Prajapati, Near Gurgaon Bus Stand

One of the one percent in 13 million.

[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]

This e-rickshaw driver is a woman. Such a sight is rare in Delhi, and more so across the city border here in conservative Haryana. “Yes, I’m a driver, and been so for long,” laughs Renu Prajapati. This scorching afternoon she is waiting for commuters on a busy sun-baked lane near Gurgaon’s main bus stand, and is chatting to a fellow driver (male) whose vehicle is parked next to hers. In her early 20s, Ms Prajapati is dressed in grey. Her long hair is tied into a knot and hidden away under a cap. “Driving was always a passion,” says the cheery woman, “which later became a necessity.”

Her father’s death obliged her to launch into a driver’s career. He was a labourer in the nearby town of Ballabgarh. “All families need to earn money and, being the eldest in my family, that responsibility fell on me after father passed away.”

The young woman lives with her mother and younger brother. In fact, it was her mother who taught her driving all those years ago “when I never imagined I would end up becoming a driver.”

The mother, a homemaker, learnt to drive from her brother who was a truck driver— says Ms Prajapati, referring to her “mamaji (maternal uncle).”

The lady has been working for more than a year. “There are actually about four of us women driving these rickshaws in Gurgaon but I was the first to start.”

Ms Prajapati begins her work daily at 7am and returns home 12 hours later. Her working day still doesn’t get over though. “Mummy is unwell so I then sit down to cook dinner.”

[This is the 213rd portrait of Mission Delhi project]

Lady driver

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Mission Delhi - Renu Prajapati, Near Gurgaon Bus Stand

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Mission Delhi - Renu Prajapati, Near Gurgaon Bus Stand

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Mission Delhi - Renu Prajapati, Near Gurgaon Bus Stand

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Mission Delhi - Renu Prajapati, Near Gurgaon Bus Stand

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Mission Delhi - Renu Prajapati, Near Gurgaon Bus Stand