J Radhamani, belonging to Thoppumpady in Kochi, is 71 years old. She can drive and holds license for 11 different categories of vehicles.
Interestingly, Radhamani is still a student – she is doing a diploma course in mechanical engineering at Kalamassery Polytechnic. She also manages a driving school along with her children.
Radhamani first learnt driving a car when she was 30 years old at the insistence of her husband, the late T V Lalan. She immediately found driving to be thrilling and took to the wheel of other types of vehicles.
Alongside, she acquired the license to drive each one of those vehicles. After earning the license for vehicles such as bus, crane, trailer, fork lift, auto-rickshaw, road roller and JCB, Radhamani took the hazardous license in 2021.
It was in 2004, when her husband lost his life in an accident, that Radhamani began helping her children at the family’s driving school.
Presently, the senior citizen, fondly referred to as ‘Maniyamma’, looks after the computer operations at the driving school. She also is the first woman to start a heavy driving school in Kerala.