The transport industry has been long considered as the men's field. However when it came to the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking, there are sixteen women bus conductors, who have been doing the "Men's Job" with sheer brilliance for many years now.
Being a Mumbaikar, if you have travelled atleast once inside a public bus during the rush hours then you are well acquainted with chaos.
In this chaos from pushing their way through the crowded gangway selling tickets, to keeping an eye, so that nothing untoward happens, with time the female conductors have proved they are with par with their male counterparts.
Back in 2013, when Shital Gawande came to Mumbai from Aurangabad to work as a bus conductor with BEST, she was slightly unsure about her tenacity in the job.
Seven years down the line, she has become one of the decorated women conductors in service with a record of detecting highest number of loss property cases.
Over the last seven years in service, Gawande has detected 10 cases of loss properties where she has returned commuters their valuables which were stolen or lost during their journey.
"When I took the job, I only promised myself that I will give my best and do my job with honesty," said Gawande with a smile.
Gawande's honesty has inspired the daughters of her peers who now wishes to follow her footstep.
Gawande says, despite the rigorous timings, in the last seven years she has never complained of her job.
"When I took the job I knew I was working for the public. I never complained, because I knew this is the job which I have chosen to do," she stated.
There is no fixed routine for a conductor. The eight hour long shift timings may vary between 5 am and 5 pm. These odd hours hampers anyone's life-work balance.
Similarly, things are not any different for Hanifa Nadaf, who has to run both her house and bus, is presently regarded as one of the brave women in service.
Nadaf, joined the service five years back after the demise of her husband. She is the head of her family with a 22-year-old daughter and a 16-year-old son.
Nadaf says, when she took her job both the children were younger, but being the only bread earner of the family, she took the challenge of the job.
"I took the job as a challenge. I had to run my family and at the same time serve my duty. I took the bull by its horns" Nadaf says.
Nadal's latest work of bravado was a month back when she rushed a biker to the hospital after he crashed with her bus.
"The man was speaking on the phone while riding and crashed with out bus. Being a public conductor we could have easily carried our job in the bus. But I chose to rush him to the hospital instead because he has a daughter like I do at home," Nadal states with a mix of pride and happiness in her voice.
However, these women doesn't expect anything extraordinary in return of their service. They know the financial distress BEST is presently into yet not for a single time they spoke of quitting the force, rather they jointly said, "We shall overcome !"
