During a recent family trip to Kashmir, Rupesh Waghmare, a property consultant from Kandivli, was surprised when a driver he hired at a hotel welcomed him saying, 'Tumhi kasha aahes?' meaning 'how are you?' in Marathi.
"I was surprised to hear my mother tongue hundreds of miles from home. It not only made me more comfortable but also helped me explore Kashmir better," said Rupesh.
Tourism industry insiders say multi-lingual drivers are quite sought after in the car rental business as companies are going out of their way to lure passengers to the increasingly service-oriented tourism sector. Anshuman Mihir, CEO and founder of Mytaxiindia.com, a leading car-rental portal, said that his company has hired drivers who can communicate in different languages. "Passengers can choose from drivers speaking a host of languages including malayalam, kannada, gujarati, marathi, bengali, oriya etc," said Mihir.
"Travellers from different states usually face language barriers especially while instructing their drivers during the trip. So we tried to take this factor into consideration and provide them a hassle-free experience," he added. "Language connects, and this is what we are offering our passengers" said Hussain Tours and Travels from Andheri.
If you thought these drivers could speak just Indian languages, listen to this: Certain car-rental companies are also inducting drivers and chauffeurs who are fluent in foreign languages. Many of these drivers have lived and worked abroad and can speak in languages like Russian, Japanese, Chinese, German, Spanish, French, etc. KTC, (formerly known as Karachi Taxi Company), is one such company which requires its drivers to speak multiple languages including foreign ones.
Gurudev Ahluvalia, director, KTC India, said, "India is a road trip destination. On any tour of India, a foreign traveler spends a considerable amount of time driving from one city to the other, often without a multi-lingual guide. In such a situation, having a chauffeur who can converse in the client's language adds immense value to the tour and helps them see and understand the real India."
According to an estimate last year, the car-rental market in India is worth over Rs 6,000 crore, and is growing at rate of about 15 per cent.
