Gentleman RTOs?

Sounds a bit like 'oxymoron', no doubt.

How can the attribute of gentlemanliness and RTO can go together?

In the good old days, they used to say that the specie called "gentleman communist" was non-existent. How can a gentleman be a communist or vice versa?  Similiarly, gentlemanliness or gentlewomanliness and RTO tribe can't coexist! Therefore it is an 'oxymoron'.

I had these thoughts buzzing through my mind  a few weeks ago, as I was traversing through southern Tamilnadu.

Actually I was visiting Ashok Leyland's Driver Training Institute (DTI) at Namakkal and in the course of chat with Surendran, Senior Manager in-charge of this faciilty, he dropped the name of Rajnikant. No, not the matinee idol who is deified in the entire Tamil nadu and boasts of a huge fan failling even in the Land of Rising Sun (Japan)!

I was told Rajnikant is a straightforward RTO manning from Namakkal.

What is so special about him? I demanded from my host.

"Meet him and then you will know," I was advised.

Soon I was motoring down to his office, situated behind the district collectorate, almost five kilometre from Leyland DTI.

The officer had graciously offered to pick me up which I accepted.

He had heard about my book, 10,000 KM on Indian Highways and also fully aware that I had labelled RTOs as "Highways Vultures".

Honestly, I was a bit scared of facing Rajnikant.

Given his uprightness and popularity among drivers' community, I felt like a criminal walking into a police station.

Over a cool glass of water, he began to unspool his experience as law enforcement officer on Tamilnadu highways.

His father, Ramakant, was equally renowned in Tamilnadu transport circles for his honesty and fair mindedness.

Like father, like son? Perhaps.

"There was a time when drivers when halted on highways, used to climb down with documents in tact, walk upto us waiting on the roadside, display documents page by page and wait for approval. Invariably, their papers used to be in tact and we used to sign off them in double quick time," said the moustachoied late forties gazetted officer, who has a fascination for vintage cars. He is credited with hosting an annual vintage car rally in Ooty until recently.

At times, he narrated, drivers who had exposure to working in the British time, walk in briskly, get their papers checked and before waking out, used to mouth, "God, bless you, my son!"

He was unspooling his father's and his own expeirence in Ooty where he had served several years before moving down to Namakkal.

From the look of the approaching driver, Rajnikant confides, he can make out that something is amiss. "I trust a lot on body language. It tells you everything even before talks gtranspire,' he adds.Most of the drivers will be shabbily dressed in lungis. Smell of liquor and beedies. Take it for granted that they will be ignorant what papers they carry. They have not been taught or shown and exlained by their supervisors at the loading bay the necessary details.

"When you see them, either sympathy or anger will swell," says he matter of factly.

Not all RTOs are dishonest and look for bribe, he asserts.

There are many like him - he does not say that - who have a spotless record.

Law abiding officers they are, except when political masters - read the ruling class - makes them turn a blind eye to blatant violation of rules and regulations.

We are helpless when we were told not to do certain things. Even if we try to follow the rules, it would be futile, he adds.

According to him, TVS drivers are the best lot. They know their onions. They are fullly aware of contents of papers/documents they are carrying.

You look at these documents and they are off in no time.

No harassment. Smooth passage for drivers with no fear or favour.

He demands an autographed copy of my book which I promised to send from the hotel room.

"Always remember that there are honest RTOs are also in the service. Dont tar all of us with the same brush," says he without any rancour. Amazing guy, indeed.


He reels out a set of names, which I quick jot down in my handbook for future contacts, whom I should meet to get the other side of the picture viz., the honest brigade.

Sometimes, if senior officials are serious, RTOs can do wonders. He cites the case of how lorries carrying sand - a big business in Tamilnadu - refused to cover the material which as is to be expected used to fly in all directions causing traffic disruptions to vehicles that are behind.

Under Rajnikant's instructions and with the district collector's full cooperation, he and his team were to ground all uncovered sand-carrying lorries. Despite initial protests, fleet owners have no other option but to fall in line with Rajnikant's 'cover-your-sand freight' diktat.


"It is a basic requirement and in the interest of all. However, this has somehow been sidestepped. How much extra it would cost to cover the sand with a tarpaulin or plastic cover?," asks he rhetorically.


Somehow, the Traffic Inspector who had halted the truck-on-truck freight of Ashok Leyland coming from Pant Nagar, Uttaranchal to Hosur,Tamilnadu and gingerly got his 'mamool' from my drivers crew flashed back on my memory. He had the gumption to demand that he be photographed with me on the highway and asked a copy be sent. Or how can I forget a lady officer who had halted us carrying polyester granules from Bangalore to Mangalore near Hassan and extracted her pound of flesh? Or the team in Uttar Pradesh on NH 2 near Kanpur were forced to challan for some unclear charges when they noticed my presence in one of the car carriers with Maruti Suzuki vehicles for delivery and learnt that I am a journalist?

There are people like Rajnikant. And there are people, unlike him.

It is mixed world. Isn't it?