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If you enter his auto rickshaw you can’t miss the twinkle in his eye or the numerous accessories that adorn his vehicle. Meet Deepak Shevale, a 32-year-old rickshaw driver from Mumbai, with a perennial smile on his face. Shevale says he likes meeting people and wants to bring a smile on his passengers’ faces.
Shevale has altered his rickshaw after 26/11. “I felt it was important to have a TV for news so that we could avoid the streets where there’s trouble. We should help people during emergency situations. I was at home when the Mumbai attack happened.” Since then, Shevale has come a long way but his reasons for modifying his vehicle have not changed – it’s all for the benefit of the passengers.
With a calendar, a medical kit, tissues, two fans, magazines, newspapers, laminated cuttings of articles on him, a fire extinguisher, a mobile charging and recharging facility, emergency numbers and a camera so that he doesn’t hit any vehicle in reverse gear, Shevale aims to please.
For the last 11 years, Shevale has been ferrying passengers all over Mumbai’s potholed suburbs. “I start by day at 9 am and end at 9 pm. What you see in the auto rickshaw are not all my ideas... sometimes, passengers come up with bright ones themselves!”
After flunking the tenth grade, Shevale worked for a while before becoming a rickshaw driver. A resident of Khar, Shevale lives with his wife and two kids. Shevale’s optimism, social consciousness and sense of humour come through in the colourful adages he has chosen to display on the inside of his rickshaw – ‘Pay with a Smile,’ ’No Bhaigiri, Only Gandhigiri,’ ’Give Respect, Get Respect,’ and ‘Don’t Put Your Beautiful Legs Up’. Shevale is environmentally conscious too. Global warming posters adorn the ceiling of his vehicle.
Proudly, handing out his visiting card, Shevale admits that this line has worked out fine for him. “At times, when I make a mistake while driving and the policemen catch me they don’t punish me after seeing what I have done to my rickshaw. “The passengers really appreciate the effort I have put into my work. By the time they finish observing the details we reach their destination. They always say something nice before departing. That makes my day.”
Shevale is somewhat of a celeb. He has also starred in a popular Hindi soap called Tarak Mehta ka ulta chasma. “If 12 people take my number only one calls,” he says. “Once a lady took my autograph!” he recalls.
Shevale has a heart of gold. He gives a 25 per cent discount to a differently-abled person and a 50 per cent discount to the blind. “Even if I find someone old or not well to do, I try to help out in my own way by giving them a discounted fare,” he explains.
Shevale has a simple philosophy. Life doesn’t stop for the family if a bread-earner dies. The family somehow manages he says, drawing a parallel to the recent violence in Mumbai. “I don’t think people get affected as much as it is made out to be. The next day, they start moving again. Life never stops. But tension does take a toll on us for a day or two.”
Dilnaz Boga is an Indian journalist and the recipient of Agence France-Presse Kate Webb Prize for her work in Indian-administered Kashmir.
