Yogita Raghuvanshi Is India’s First Academically Overqualified Truck Driver. Here’s Her Story.

“I certainly am not doing this job because of a resolve to break stereotypes”. 

Not every woman who takes on “manly jobs” is here to break the barriers. Yogita Raghuvanshi’s story is similar.

Based out of Bhopal, Yogita took to driving the truck a few years ago. After the death of her husband 16 years ago she was left to take care of her children – Yashika and Yashwin.

Yogita had been told that her husband was a lawyer in the Bhopal High Court. She says, “His family had claimed that he was a lawyer practising in the Bhopal High Court. But of course, that was not the case.”

 

But, that’s not all. Yogita is a qualified lawyer and has a degree in commerce as well, but decided to work as a truck driver for the instant wages.

She opines about that saying, “If I had opted to be a junior to some lawyer and enter the legal profession, I would have got only a pittance for the many initial years. But I learnt that driving trucks meant instant wages.”

 

Initially, she was the victim of snide comments, stares and a lot of gawking, but she put all of this behind her and was soon able to challenge the male-dominated field of work.

She has been travelling to all kinds of terrains in the last year and says, “I certainly am not doing this job because of a resolve to break stereotypes. I am behind this wheel owing to my circumstances. So please don’t make out as if I am from another world.”

 

She also has a unique way of dealing with “highway vultures” – the bribe-seeking highway police and tells them, “Dekho, I will click a photo of you and go to the nearest police station. Ready?”

Obviously, nobody dares bother her after that.

 

When asked her about whether she would want other women to be truck drivers, she replies, “Of course, I do in many states. They prefer to be at home and not wanting to take the risk by going on the highways.”

Not just that, Yogita was the recipient of Mahindra Transport Excellence Award in 2013 in the form of a high-end Mahindra truck and drives over 500 km in a day.

News Sources: The Hindu, LinkedIn
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