The Story Of Janaki Balaraman: One Of Kerala's First Women To Own A Heavy Vehicle License

"When she was a kid, Janaki Balaraman cycled to school. During those days, a woman cycling was a rare sight so the people in Pottore, her hometown, called her 'Cycle Janaki'. Years later, she became one of the first women in the state to obtain a heavy license and open a driving school for women."

Balaraman, the husband of the late Janaki, said as he sat down with a heavy photo album. He is a retired headmaster who spends his time working for the local palliative care centre. Over the years, he has maintained a photo album chronicling the major events in his wife's life.

Janaki Balaraman Journey

Janaki Balaraman's father owned a bus and her mother was a music teacher. She was the youngest in her family. Her father's bus was her playground. She is reputed to have spent hours playing behind the wheel. The beginning of her love for driving starts here.

After pursuing a degree in Economics from Vimala College, Thrissur, she married Balaram and had two kids. Until her late 30's, she was a homemaker. When her kids grew up, she was left with a lot of spare time, prompting her to try something new. She started poultry farming and later on ventured into mulberry farming. She even tried pursuing her mother's footsteps by learning to play the harmonium but her true calling lay behind the wheels.

Janaki had claimed to be one of Kerala's first women to obtain a heavy license. A newspaper report claims that she is the first woman in her district(Thrissur) to pass the heavy license test. Over the years, she has been featured in prominent Malayalam magazines and newspapers. One of these features was about women drivers and their experiences of driving through male-dominated roads.

Janaki began driving in her late thirties. She learned to drive with her friend Omana. In a phone interview, Omana spoke about what it was like for a woman to drive in the 1980s, on the outskirts of Thrissur. She said, "Men gawked, passed obscene ">comments and even booed!". But Janaki, who was often rebuked by her instructor for speeding, tucked her saree, ignored all the noise and continued driving ahead.

The access to wheels helped her venture into the job market. At an age when most people thought of retiring, she began working as a saleswoman for a motorcycle company. Many women came enquiring about the prices of scooters but left as they had no access to an instructor. Most of them were dissuaded from going to driving schools run by men. Janaki decided to teach some of them. Realising the need for a driving school for women, she started Siva Driving School in Punkunnam. It was not a smooth journey, family and friends objected and she had a tough time finding land for the project.

The school turned out to be a success. Initially, women were taught to ride cycles and scooters. Later on, she learned to drive the car and began offering lessons. Her students remember her as a strict teacher but beyond teaching hours she was a jovial friend who even arranged trips for them!

When a woman's organisation began a local bus service, they requested her to take the wheel. The service was solely for women and they wanted a female driver but there were no women with a heavy licenses in their immediate vicinity. Janaki applied for a heavy license and passed the test on her first attempt. This feat catapulted her to local fame. At the age of 52, she had mastered all the vehicles on land.  "In another life, I will also learn to drive ships and planes!", Janaki seems to have remarked.

Her last days were spent dealing with a kidney problem, but she continued driving until the day before she died. Janaki, who passed away in 2014 at the age of 71, donated her body for medical research.

"My wife is my inspiration. People often credit me for 'allowing' her to drive and start a school during those times, but I had nothing to do with it. I neither encouraged nor discouraged her.", says Balaraman. Today, he lives in Pottore with his daughter Jeeja, who runs a driving school called "Jan", named after her mother. Her brother, Jeevan, continues to run Siva driving school. In a way, Janaki's love for wheels lives through both of them.

Janaki Balaraman's story came into my life quite accidentally. On my first day at Jan driving school, Jeeja, Janaki's daughter and my instructor gave me a few pages which contained many instructions. Her mother had written them down when she was alive and Jeeja has made it a practice to lend them to her new students for a few days. She told me about her mother's story. I was excited to know that my village had such phenomenal women. I went home and googled Janaki's name but nothing came up. Since then, I have nurtured an intense urge to put her name on those tabs, right where it belongs.

Janaki's story proves that it's never too late to follow your dreams. All you have to do is tuck your saree, ignore the noise and keep steering ahead!

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