Who is Subu?

With Ramashankar Pandey

Somehow, road safety has come to be associated  with Subu for me, of late.

Until  the evening of July 26, 2018 he did not even exist for me.

But that rain hit evening changed the landscape. Things happened in such a jiffy, I was sitting with the youthful Managing Direcor of Hella India Ramashankar Pandey in his corner room on the sixth floor of Platinum Towers in the industrial corridor of Gurgaon (Phase 1).

We hit it off very well from the word 'go'.

Before I forget, I owe it to Road Safety Expert Hari Kaushik, who alerted me about Hella and Pandey.

The fortyish Hella bossman, passionate about road safety obviously, unveiled the onecroresteps.com details. Given my Asian Institute of Transport Development (AITD) linkage and the  ongoing project of creating a template for the creation of National Centre for Road Safety, funded by World Bank under the Ministry of Road Transport, Govt of India, this onecroresteps project appealed a lot.

Though my entire focus until now was on long haul truck drivers and road safety issues concerning them, Pandey's offer of the onecroresteps.com helped me take a plunge.

"We will leave for Kanyakumari tomorrow morning. Ready?" asked Pandey.

You know what my respond would  have been.

Pallavi Sinha of Hella India, project head, did the rest: booking ticket.

(Left to Right: Neha Chugh, Usman Khan, self, Pallavi Sinha & Diksha Chaudhry)

"Don't go by my age. I can walk. Along with Subu. Rather, I wish to," I told the gathering of Hella India team in front of Pandey and again separately in the conference room, before collecting my T shirts kit etc.

"I have no objections, Rameshji. But his strides are almost a metre," advised Ram. We all had a hearty laugh.

A metre long strides? Giraffee or Leopard? Yeh Subu kya cheez hai?

I had no answers to that question that time. But I will find it soon.

**
On reaching home, the first question from my spouse:

"So... getting ready for another road trip?"

Sheepish smile escaped my lips.

She is used to me scooting out regularly. So no big surprises.

Began packing for a 60 day road trip. Laptop, of course.

Chappal or boots? A bit of dilemma. Then chappal won the battle.

(To be continued)...

If you have not read the Curtain Raiser, click here