Offtrack: Nelamangala: In the Driver's Seat

'Second drivers' help truckers to reach unfamiliar destinations in Bangalore.

FOR A SMALL FEE, THE 'GUIDES' EASE THE OUTSTATION TRUCKS PAST CHECKPOSTS AND, AVOIDING ONE-WAY STREETS, SMARTLY DRIVE THEM TO THE GODOWNS.

FOR A SMALL FEE, THE 'GUIDES' EASE THE OUTSTATION TRUCKS PAST CHECKPOSTS AND, AVOIDING ONE-WAY STREETS, SMARTLY DRIVE THEM TO THE GODOWNS.

For a school dropout, Shiva Shankar was doing pretty well bringing home Rs 1,400 a month as a security guard in a private firm. Then he decided to chuck his job and got a friend in his Binnamangala village to give him driving lessons. But Shankar found getting employment as a driver wasn't as easy as he thought. It was at this time that he heard about "guides". And he became one. That was 10 years ago.

Every morning, Shankar, now 36, walks to the commercial tax office checkpost at Nelamangala, 30 km from Bangalore. This is a major junction for trucks from north and central India entering the city. As soon as a truck stops, Shankar approaches it to check if the driver requires his services in, say, driving a truck loaded with industrial machinery to a poky corner in the maze that is the Bommannahalli Industrial Estate. Unfamiliar with Bangalore's landmarks, many jump at the offer.

"Our livelihood depends on the trucks," says Shankar. At least 700, including oil tankers, come to Bangalore daily. Lorries from Kerala enter the city via the Kengeri checkpost on Mysore Road and those from Tamil Nadu wheel into the city from Attibele, a kilometre from the Hosur border. But Nelamangala is the chosen destination for most guides -- also known as "second drivers" -- because it is through this sleepy village that the heaviest traffic passes.

"The myriad one-ways and no-entry roads will stump outstation drivers," says Augustine Kaunds, president of the Society for Peoples' Action and Development, an organisation working for the welfare of truckers in Karnataka. "Guides play an important role in ensuring you get your grocery or machinery on time." As guide M. Rajanna, 39, chortles, "The more unfamiliar the driver is with the city, the better it is for us. We can demand higher fees."

Over time, the guides build up easy relationships with people manning the checkposts. It is therefore their duty to "take care" of the posts. "It's another way of earning their bread," rationalises Chandra Shetty of the Nelamangala Forest Office. "They don't come in our way and we don't mind as long as everything is legitimate." Adds B. Raman, who drives a truck from Kerala carrying food items to a distributor in the crowded Cubbonpet area: "My owner has a fleet of lorries. All the drivers are expected to manage things on their own. We are given some money for "negotiating through rough traffic" and we take the help of guides for this. They have an understanding with the police or checkpost authorities and generally ensure safe passage." There's additional benefit for the drivers. "We get to take some rest," says Raman. "It's a welcome respite when you are driving for six to eight hours at a stretch at speeds going up to 60 kmph."

But it's not an easy life for the guides. "No truck, no food," explains Thimanna, a father of three and a guide for nearly 15 years now. He was one of the hundreds of guides who bore the brunt of the recent nationwide truck stir over the hike in diesel prices. Thimanna, like other guides, is not just a guide, but also a coolie, helper, cleaner, odd-jobs man rolled into one. "We have to do everything if we are to earn a decent living," he says. The guides charge about Rs 200, a part of it for the two cleaners normally accompanying them, to drive the trucks to the destinations and to bring them back. "On a good day, we take home between Rs 50 and Rs 80 after deducting the expenses on food and other things," says Thimanna.

There are hazards, of course. Sometimes the regional transport officer conducts a special drive and shoos away the guides from the rendezvous. "We have to keep greasing palms to eke out a living," complains Raju Venkatappa, 44. "The state Government does not recognise us, transport companies ignore us, the people sometimes think we are out to create a mess." But it is the only life they know of.

Next time you wonder at an outstation truck weaving through the congested roads in your city, think of a guide in the driver's seat. A guide whose survival depends on how unfamiliar the driver of the truck is as he stands at the gates of the city on the national highways.

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