Tractor uncle vs ride-hailing apps

Kavitha Mandana narrates the tale of how rain wrecked havoc in a Bengaluru locality

On Mama and Papa’s phones, his number was saved as Manjunath, but to Akshita and Aruna, he was ‘Tractor Uncle’. His number is also saved on their phones in case of any emergency.

Throughout the recent ‘hottest summer in 100 years’, Tractor Uncle and his nephew doubled up as Tanker Uncle and Tanker Anna. Their numbers possibly the most dialled in their entire layout — Mirabel Mountainview. And across M M Nagar.

One night, Shwetha akka was almost grounded for coming home late after a concert. But the moment she told her dad over the phone not to worry, because Tractor Uncle’s tanker was in close proximity, everyone relaxed. Nothing could go wrong when uncle was around.

Akshita remembered that earlier, they only saw uncle during the summers — filling up everyone’s sumps with water when their borewells dried up or when the Cauvery water supply became erratic.

But two years back, everything changed. Cyclonic rains flooded Bengaluru during their mid-term exams. Amma had woken up early to send Akshita and Aruna off with a good breakfast but found water lapping up against the topmost step outside their front door. Their old Mahindra jeep parked beside their front gate was 3 feet underwater!

She involuntarily let out a loud wail — waking up both the girls who had only slept after studying till 2 am.  

“How will we get the girls to school?” Amma mumbled as she shook Papa awake.

Peering out of their bedroom window, Papa’s concerns were more about the damage the rain would have caused to his beloved jeep!

Akshita, scrolling through the news on her phone, discovered that many localities across the city were flooded. And decided on her own…long, long before the Chief Minister could make any announcements, “Don’t worry everyone, schools will be shut today!”

She immediately changed into shorts and dashed out to splash about across the layout, the math exam completely forgotten.

As a panicked Amma started calling the other moms in the neighbourhood,  Papa’s phone rang.  Recognising the number as Tractor Uncle’s, Aruna picked up the phone and greeted him cheerily — she too was in a holiday mood, confident exams would be postponed.

Uncle sounded very busy, but told her to be ready in half an hour in front of their gate — he was collecting all the school kids in Mirabel Mountainview and driving them in his tractor to the bus stand on 3rd Main, where the school vans  were stuck, unable to move further because of the flooding.

So that’s how Tractor Uncle made sure all Mirabellers wrote their math exam. Despite the continuous rainfall, Physics, English and Hindi exams were also written, thanks to Tractor Uncle arriving every morning and ferrying the children in his bouncing tractor to the bus stop on 3rd Main. He also ferried them back after exams. 

When cabs couldn’t enter the locality during the floods, Tractor Uncle would wait near Mohan Bakery every day between 7.30 pm and 8 pm. All those who couldn’t enter M M Nagar because of the water, could pile into his tractor after work and get dropped off at their homes, safe and sound.

Last year, during the floods, Mohan Bakery also became the drop-off spot for  food-delivery orders since two-wheeler drivers couldn’t risk entering M M Nagar. At mid-day, Tractor Uncle would pick up all the grocery bags and drop them off at two or three homes, where they could get picked up.

For Mirabellers, no Super Hero could ever match Tractor Uncle. As Ayudha Puja approached, the Residents Association wanted to thank him. Everyone knew Tractor Uncle was in deep debt. His small farm on the outskirts was not doing well. When unseasonal rains flooded Bengaluru roads, they also washed away the crops of local farmers. 

Though everyone paid Tractor Uncle whenever he picked/dropped students and working professionals, when the Association began collecting gift money for Uncle’s Ayudha Puja gift, every M M Nagar resident realised just how special their Tractor Uncle was. Each remembered some special episode when Uncle had stepped in during the floods, ensuring nobody missed work or school. 

It was Akshita’s idea not to tell Uncle about their plans, but to simply order a tanker to be delivered to the house next to Mohan Bakery.

When Uncle arrived in his scrubbed tanker, decorated with banana leaves and flowers, he found all his friends from MM Nagar, dressed in their finest, armed with packets of sweets. After many hand-shakes, hugs and greetings, when the Resident’s Association president thanked Tractor Uncle for all his help and handed him a cheque for Rs 1 Lakh, they both had tears in their eyes.