Traffic Warden Shubhi Jain Finds It Important To Spread Smiles

Traffic warden Shubhi Jain spoke to SheThePeople about her journey and how she likes to do her job on the busy roads every day. Here's her story:

Growing up, I always wanted to be a Police Officer but life took a different turn and I ended up enrolling for an MBA. During my second year, I somehow got to intern with the Indore Traffic Police and that’s when my passion for the police force was reignited.

My parents never stopped me, but they were slightly worried as I’d just recovered from a leg injury that’d kept me in a wheelchair for 3 months. My doctor had advised me against performing any physically challenging tasks, but I didn’t care!

Two days into the internship, I realised that managing traffic was never about vehicles; it was about people. But no one was paying attention to it and that needed to change.

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So, I let the entertainer in me take charge and change the way people looked at traffic laws. I’d heard that, ‘smiles are contagious and spread faster than any virus!’ I made it my motto; surprisingly it worked. I remember resolving a nasty fight between a fellow officer and a signal breaker just by requesting the person to follow traffic rules with a smile. It’s basic human nature. People are frustrated with being spoken to rudely– nobody wants to be shouted at while coming back from work.

So, I’d thank the ones who abided by the law with a thumbs up and humbly request the offenders to follow the rules. One day, a fellow officer shot a video of me doing that and circulated it on WhatsApp. In just 2 days, I was trending across social media.

People would come up to me and praise for my work. It was unbelievable. I got a lot of love, but there was some hate as well. Some men would take my smile in a wrong sense and pass lewd comments. It was hurtful, but I didn’t let it get to me. In fact it made me stronger. My fame gave me the confidence to try different ways to make a change in people’s lives.

It has been 2 years now and I’ve found more than one way to help and entertain people; I am a Radio jockey by morning, Traffic Police warden by the evening; I also own an eco-start up. I love working; but what I love the most is helping people. If a person was to come up to me and say, ‘you made my day better’, I would consider that to be my biggest achievement.

Watch the video here.