{"id":8784,"date":"2020-03-07T15:51:05","date_gmt":"2020-03-07T10:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/34.22.110.190\/english\/?p=8784"},"modified":"2020-03-08T23:16:40","modified_gmt":"2020-03-08T17:46:40","slug":"kolkatas-youngest-woman-driver-kalpana-mondol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/kolkatas-youngest-woman-driver-kalpana-mondol\/","title":{"rendered":"Kolkata\u2019s youngest woman bus driver Kalpana Mondol: tough fighter, dreamer &#038; doer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A young woman in\u00a0<em>salwar kameez<\/em>, her hair tied neatly into a bun \u2013 who looks more like a teenager \u2013 hops into a bus along with her mother. You might expect the two women to join the 20-odd passengers (who are by now impatient, waiting for the driver to arrive and start off from the bus terminus). Instead, the young woman heads straight to the driver\u2019s seat, sits there and presses the accelerator of the vehicle with the deft movement of her hands. Her mother takes the seat behind her.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8786\" src=\"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/female-bus-driver-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Some passengers are surprised by the arrival of the female driver. Is this a joke? They wonder and giggle. But by then, she has started the private bus of 34C route, and the passengers are convinced that the young woman knows her job well.<\/p>\n<p>Life has thrown many challenges at Kalpana Mondol, a resident of Noapara in Kolkata\u2019s Dum Dum, but she has chosen to not be defeated. Her father \u2013 Subhas Mondol has been driving the bus for years, but they were devastated when he met with an accident. He was bedridden and the family had no other source of income.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow could we survive? So I thought why not drive the bus myself?\u201d Kalpana said. Her mother, Mongola, supported her decision, and they set off for the new journey together, hand in hand.<\/p>\n<p>Now that he is back on his feet, father and daughter share the workload \u2013 they both drive the bus. \u201cMy father\u2019s feet are still weak and he cannot drive for long. So in the afternoons, I take over,\u201d said Kalpana, smiling.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not easy. Kalpana\u2019s parents realise it\u2019s a matter of safety for the young woman, so even when she is at the wheel, one of the parents is by her side. \u201cMy parents inspire me, so I feel more confident when they are around,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The parents are proud of Kalpana. \u201cI am proud that she took up the responsibility when her father was unwell. All children should show such sense of responsibility,\u201d said Mongola.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8787\" src=\"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/female-bus-driver-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Those who travel regularly in Kolkata\u2019s 34C bus route are proud of Kalpana too. \u201cShe is such a great driver! Steady at the wheel and responsible. I feel so happy to know that she stood by her parents when things were tough,\u201d said Puja, a passenger.<\/p>\n<p>Kalpana dreams big, she says. \u201cI have to achieve something important in life. I want to work as a driver in the police force. That\u2019s my dream, and I am confident that I can make it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She had to drop out of school due to her father\u2019s illness. Subhas Mondol wants his daughter to clear Secondary examinations next year. \u201cI know she will do well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Not just her parents and some passengers, Kalpana also has other drivers and helpers of 34C route supporting her. \u201cEven the traffic sergeants show me affection and respect,\u201d said Kalpana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>She started driving a bus when her father met with an accident.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":8785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,21],"tags":[132,67,108],"tmauthors":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-bengal","8":"category-gender","9":"tag-gender","10":"tag-kolkata","11":"tag-west-bengal-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8784"},{"taxonomy":"tmauthors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tmauthors?post=8784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}