Kerala women explore India in trucks: How they handle thieves and toilet challenges

“You will never truly see the world if you remain confined to your home. To experience it, you have to step out,” says Jalaja, who spent 19 years as a homemaker before taking to the highways in a truck. Today, she travels all across India driving her vehicle, and she’s not alone. Her entire family is with her on this journey.

The name Puthettu Travels must be familiar to many, especially among travel-blog enthusiasts.“One day, my husband handed me the truck’s key. I was a little scared, but I decided to take up the challenge. Today, I can drive anywhere in India. I’ve loved travelling since childhood, and once I set out on the road, I finally realised how vast this world is. Every journey has given me new experiences and new knowledge, and that makes me truly happy,” Jalaja Puthettu said, addressing a session at Manorama's Hortus Art and Literature Festival in Kochi on its opening day. Along with Jalaja, her husband Ratheesh Puthettu and daughter Devika Puthettu also spoke at the session, titled ‘Family Road Trip’. 

The three women
At Puthettu Travels that hails from Kottayam's Ettumanoor, a team of three women - Jalaja, Devika and Surya (Jalaja's sister) - drive trucks and the trio has travelled through most parts of the country by now. “In my college, hardly anyone knew that I drove vehicles. But once I went to Wayanad, and it made news, that’s when everyone found out. I’ve always loved watching my father drive, and that’s how I developed my own passion for it,” Devika said.

During long trips to places like the Northeast, Devika takes charge of the truck while the others rest. They all maintain that there is nothing for women to fear in this line of work. They credit their confidence to Ratheesh, who encouraged them to take up the challenge.

They even handle thieves
At Puthettu Travels, transporting goods has become an art. Their truck leaves Perumbavoor loaded with pineapple, rubber products, plywood and more, and heads to Pune. From Nashik, it travels to Kashmir with a load of onions, then returns to Hyderabad with Kashmiri apples, before finally reaching Kerala with rice and spices... This is how these women criss-cross multiple states on every trip.

“Travelling this way for long, we have grown accustomed to the lifestyle. Sometimes thieves may try to board in isolated areas. Once, a thief managed to climb onto our truck but escaped when he realised we had noticed him. His target was the goods we were carrying.

“One of the major challenges on the road is the toilets. In some places, they are extremely dirty, and there is no point in complaining. So we avoid shooting such things,” said Ratheesh Puthettu. The family’s favourite destinations include Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh in the Northeast, and then Kashmir. They are already planning more journeys in the months ahead.