74 years old ‘DRIVER AMMA’

Radhamani Amma, affectionately known as Mani Amma, is a 74-year-old trailblazer from Kerala who transformed her initial t€rror of driving in 1981 into extraordinary mastery. Hailing from a modest village background and married after Class 10, she overcame societal barriers with her husband’s encouragement and daily practice. She now holds 11 driving licences, including those for heavy vehicles like buses, trucks, cranes, excavators, JCBs, forklifts, and more, making her one of the few (and often the first) women in India to achieve this in a male-dominated field. Together with her husband, she founded Kerala’s pioneering heavy vehicle driving school (A2Z Institute of Heavy Equipment), which she continues to run after his passing in 2004. Her inspiring journey from fear to fearlessness proves that age, gender, and doubt are no match for determination, motivating women everywhere to take control and rewrite their stories.