It’s been a
while I rode the BRT bus and yesterday when I did, I got to ride in a
female-driven BRT bus.
Got a
message, yesterday, to come pick my cheque from one of these advert agencies.
Yea… just when I was beginning to go through “mid-career-crisis”, I get called
to come pick up a cheque for a job which I voiced since last year. Yes! They
owe for that long and even sometimes longer. Well, hence the “mid-career-crisis”.
What can I say...Anyways, it’s been a while I rode the BRT bus, so, when I boarded,
yesterday, I noticed some really interesting development with their whole
system; the voice-over (operator) announcing the various stops, the red
button you get to press when you hear your stop announced and some other little
details which made the ride quite comfortable and interesting, but, what really
got me was the lady driver. You should see how fixated I was on my fellow lady.
It felt so amazing seeing her at her duty post. All through the ride, I was
just blown away…the ease with which she maneuvered the long bus…gosh!
I have
always been this girl who saw the skill – ‘driving’ as kind of empowering for a
woman. Relax! Don’t bite my head off yet. I grew up with my mom always scared
to drive herself, well, why wouldn’t she be when my pops would make it really
clear the car’s his and if someone else used it or even worse, something wrong
happened to the car while the said person drove the car, the said person was in
real shit. Well, she totally stayed away from his car or cars, as the case was,
after a while. She didn’t want any trouble. He even tried teaching her how to
drive, a couple of times but he never bought her a car. They were all his. She never
complained, either. They go out together and come back together and she has
been just fine with that. I saw this as “weak”, although, I too, was scared to
use his cars even after I came of age. Funny thing is; he paid for me to go
learn how to drive but I was never allowed to drive his cars. He didn’t buy me
any, either. All these only made me want to get my own car, so bad that the
first slightly huge cash I made, I got myself a used car. Yes! I did it! So, those
early days when I got on the road with my car, I felt a kind of way; I felt
empowered, as a lady. And believe me that feeling never gets old. I still feel
that way whenever I drive. So, take that feeling from isolation and put it in a
job/industry which people generally assume is a man’s job… you’re not just
driving yourself or your family, you actually drive for a living… a female
commercial driver…interesting, isn’t it? That’s the best I can do in trying to
describe that feeling I had yesterday in that bus. I wanted to talk to her. I
wanted to chat with her. I even fantasized interviewing her. Well, I couldn’t do
any of these, in fear of distracting her, so, I just had this really stupid
grin on my face all through the ride. Believe me… the idea is different from
the experience/reality. Mind-blowing!
I guess,
now, I’m looking forward to ride in a female-driven uber, taxify, et al. I
think I have flown in a female-piloted airplane once but the feeling wasn’t this
raw probably because, of course, you don’t get to see the pilot during the
flight. I have also ridden in a female-driven ‘keke’. I just love
civilization!!! Female Empowerment. Female doing stuff out of the ordinary.
Detailed... Very good.
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