Meet Shanti Devi – A Truly Inspiring Story of India’s First Woman Truck Mechanic

[LCSHREE]

Along the dingy and dusty road, stench, resounding chaos of horns at Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar in the national capital of Delhi, emerges a 55-year old Shanti Devi, seen repairing punctured tyres and fixing truck engines, making a picture perfect scene for feminine strength that every civilised society will dream of.

Her choice to be in a male dominated world is a great hope that makes its way out from myriads of devastating and deploring events around the fairer sex. Working rigorously from last 30 years, Shanti Devi is a popular name in the area. Often referred to as Ustad Ji, she works for 12 hours each day, repairing around 10-15 tyres.

She represents the 95 per cent of the women in the country who are employed in the unorganised sector. According to the Economic Survey of 2018-19 released in July this year, almost 93 per cent of the total workforce is 'informal'.
Women are often stereotyped with gender division of labour because of the nature of work in this field, stating the lack of physical strength as the most common excuse. It is this which makes the journey of India's first woman truck mechanic, Shanti Devi, so empowering.

In her early days of struggle, Shanti Devi used to run a chai shop here, while her husband supported the family with rickshaw pulling. Eventually, her husband joined in and the duo started making steady income.
Three years later, the couple saved enough to buy an engine, tanks and the basic tools to venture into the business of tyre repairing.

"The success and location of our chai stall yielded the confidence in us to set this up and foray into tyre repairing," she said.

The couple hired a mechanic for the initial months and apprenticed to learn the art of fixing punctures and making minor engine repairs. Their motive behind their new business was to generate more income than they were getting from the tea-stall, since the husband-wife duo had the responsibility of a total of 8 children from their previous marriages.

Reminiscing her old days, she revealed, "Times have changed. We used to sell a cup of chai for Rs 1.5, which is no less than a hefty amount of Rs 10 now."

"With the tyre puncture business, we started earning approximately Rs 900 in a day, which was earlier restricted to an average amount of Rs 300 with the chai shop," she explained.

Devi further added, "We began with charging Rs 100 for the puncture repair which was later increased to an amount of Rs.120," she explained. The nature of our business is very unpredictable. The income varied depending on day-to-day business."

"I believe that we just need to be determined in our head to achieve anything. There were times when I would hurt myself with a hammer or a nail. Even though it took me a while, but such bruises and injuries did not deter me from continuing my work," said the 55-year old.
Now adept at fixing and replacing tyres, she mentions about the strange responses she received from people during her initial days.

"At a rough estimate, about 25 to 30 percent of the people working in this area constitute women. However, they are only restricted to simpler chores, especially at tea shops or dhabas," Shanti Devi said, being proud of walking the road not taken.

She added, "Since I have been working in this area at the chai stall before, everyone was anyway familiar with me."

"But men would often doubt my calibre and stare at me. But things began to change slowly. My husband was always supportive and responded to them confidently. Eventually when they would visit us, they started to trust me with the work. Even in the absence of my husband, I would manage the workshop single handedly."

In today's times, Shanti Devi lives and works independently since her husband passed away due to a cardiac arrest last year.

They have a plot in the nearby Swaroop Nagar area and a scooter that they managed to buy from their savings at the tyre repair venture