A postgraduate man travels in auto-rickshaw; he is the driver

Ahmedabad: Some autorickshaw drivers will talk fondly about their small farmland back in the village. But if Chandresh Dave — a 51-year-old auto-driver from Naroda — speaks of farming, rather than harvesting nostalgia, he is likely to harness expertise from his MSc degree in agriculture.
His postgraduate specialization is in pesticides. Dave is one of the many postgraduate ‘autowallahs’ who are changing the definition of ‘Amdavad no rickshavalo’, made famous by a Kishore Kumar song featuring Asrani in the 1977 film, ‘Maa Baap.’
Dave held a few jobs before settling into the auto-driver’s seat.On the other hand, for 36-year-old Mushtaq Nagori — he has a BA degree — driving an auto was the first choice of profession.
This Gomtipur resident quit an LLB course midway.
Auto fares give him enough money daily to take care of his five-member family. Moreover, a loan was much easier to get to buy an auto than to open a shop.
Dilip Chauhan, a 40-year-old Satellite resident, holds a BA degree in economics. He said that he had appeared for a few job interviews but eventually rode into the auto-driver role after a friend lent him his auto. "I am registered with an online service and that gets me a steady stream of passengers," he said.
A sociological study conducted by Jagdish Pandya, an MPhil student at the Gujarat University, has captured this interesting snapshot of the city's educated auto-drivers. Pandya had interviewed 100-odd auto-drivers, at random, from different areas of the city. His study revealed that three of the drivers in the group surveyed were postgraduates, 14 were graduates, and 38 had studied up to class XII. Over 50% of the drivers surveyed lived in the western parts of the city and earned, on an average, over Rs 15,000 every month. "The job comes with flexible timings and it is easy to enter the field," Pandya said, listing the reasons why some qualified people were choosing to drive autos. "Besides, they have the option of ferrying children to school and registering with online services which assures them of a fixed income." Dave had worked with a few pesticide firms and a textile firm. He decided to drive an auto in 1995. "I love the independence that comes with this job," said Dave. "My son is pursuing a PhD course and has UPSC dreams. I have been able to take care of my family's needs."
The founder of G-Auto, Nirmal Kumar, told TOI that he has observed the trend of postgraduates and graduates opting to drive auto-rickshaws only in Gujarat. Kumar's operation involves close to 21,000 autos in Gujarat, Haryana, and Delhi. "In other states, mostly migrants with basic education take to driving autos," he said. "In Gujarat, people prefer to be their own bosses."