“Your tempo’s turn buddy. Would you like to have some mouth-watering pickle?” said Meena Magar, 26, from Hetauda on a recent afternoon in front of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) building at New Road Gate.
“Won’t you let me take a nap?” snapped Sumitra K.C, 28, who hails from Solukhumbu. Such candid conversation is routine for women who come from many regions of the country to operate tempos.
Eight years ago it would be major news if women were seen on the driving seats of the popular three wheelers, as driving tempos was thought to be an occupation for males only.
Now women have not only left the males behind by getting noted as safe drivers, but have also brought significant changes in their own and their families’ lives through this job, which they seem to enjoy.
“We are satisfied with this work. This is quite an achievement for women like us from rural backgrounds,” said Meena. “We are now able to speak frankly with anyone, anywhere. Otherwise, it was only males who could do so and we were supposed to speak within limits all the time.”
Sumitra was quick to add, “Unlike before, we can respond quite fittingly when treated disparagingly by anyone.”
Seeing Sumitra busy answering the Post’s queries, women drivers gathered in front of NAC building one after another and were all eager to disclose with pride that the job has given them money, identity, and freedom from male domination not only during their working hours, but also at home.
“My husband takes care of household chores as I’m busy driving a tempo from seven in the morning to seven in the evening,” said Sabina Lama, 27, from Dhading.
Lama’s husband and a school-going son both are happy about her job. “My son feels good about my job, despite the fact that I’m just a driver. My son is a boarder at Gillette Boarding School and this was possible because I earn around fifteen thousand rupees monthly,” said the proud mother.
It’s not only Sabina who is so lucky. Sumitra’s husband supports her in a similar way.
“My man also supports me in household work,” giggles Sumitra. “We shifted our daughter from a government to a boarding school after I took to driving five years ago.”
“She’s getting married soon,” the ladies teased a 24-year-old woman who was listening keenly to the conversation. “I’ll marry only when I own a tempo,” Sushma Khatri shot back.
Owning a tempo is a big achievement for these drivers, because then they won’t have to share their daily earnings with the tempo owners. And of course they feel more empowered when they are ‘the boss’ themselves!
Rupa Giri, who owns the temp she drives said, ” My husband went to Malaysia and came back with around twenty thousand rupees after two years. On the other hand, I have been able to pay back the cost of my new tempo (Rs 450,000) within just two years by working in my own homeland.”
Similarly, Sumitra K.C fulfilled her dream when she became the owner of a tempo last year. About eight women own the tempos they drive, according to Ajay Kumar Rai, central president of Nepal Transportation Labor Union. “Of the one thousand tempo drivers in the valley more than 300 are women.”
– Â Anjali Subedi
