Slice of Life: ‘I am proud of my kids for securing medical, engg seats on merit’

Chennai

I am a native of Chennai and started to drive autorickshaw at a young age. I could not complete my school, as I had to look for a job in order to help my family. All my life, I have worked as a driver and it has been my only source of income. Until I could buy my own auto, I drove for different owners. I got married at the age of 27 and have two college going children. While my daughter is pursuing engineering in a private college, my son is studying MBBS in a government college in Coimbatore. My children are very good at studies and it makes me proud. They acquired college seats based on merit – we did not have to pay any donation for their admissions. They even availed various scholarships and I managed other expenses by driving auto. There have been situations when we faced financial difficulties. But my earning helped to tide over it. I hope that my days of struggle will be over soon, when my children start working. But I will continue to work even if they find good jobs, because I do not want to sit idle. I try to adapt to the changing times, and have started taking rides on mobile applications such as Ola and Uber. There are few problems such as huge traffic and regulations that involve permissions and other issues. But overall, I am happy with my work.