THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Deepamol, a 42-year-old from Kottayam and who is an offroad jeep driver and Himalayan bike rider, will be the first woman driver of 108 chain of ambulance service in the state and will join on International Women's Day.
Deepa is taking up this job as she needs a permanent income for her family's livelihood. Though driving is a passion, she has been running her family by driving private vehicles all these years. Her husband G Mohan is recovering from a serious illness and her son Deepak Mohan is studying for a course on cyber security after completing BTech.
"Even though driving is a passion for me, I find it as a source of living too since I have to run my family. It was my dream to make a Himalayan trip on my two-wheeler but due to financial constraints I could not achieve it all these years. But last year, finally, I could fulfill my dream as I embarked on a trip to Ladakh on July 8 on my own bike. I was the only woman rider in that group of 20 people," said Deepamol.
Before embarking on such adventurous rides, Deepamol was an instructor at a driving school in Ranni in Pathanamthitta. After marriage, she shifted to Kottayam where she started driving private vehicles. "I used to go as a driver on daily wages for families that had no permanent drivers. Apart from this, I also used to get airport trips very frequently and that was my source of income initially," she said.
Deepamol took the heavy motor vehicle licence in 2009 and used to drive lorries and tipper lorries. She used to work on contract basis as a driver of tipper lorries. She is an offroad jeep driver too. "I won twice the 4x4 jeep offroad race at Kunnamkulam. My friend gave me the jeep for the race after realizing my interest," said Deepamol, who owns a Bajaj Dominar 400 bike.
She is now taking up the new assignment as the ambulance driver of the 108 chain service and will receive the key of her ambulance from health minister Veena George on Tuesday.
