So , I was talking with my Munni Ji .
And ,before you get any ideas .She’s above 60 , bent , nearly toothless and partially deaf .
( Shattered the image too soon ? :-D )
SO , she’s been working in my house for quite some time now .Infact 8 or 9 years .
Everyday ,coming in …slightly crooked . Always smiling , wizened , looking a lil’ lost , sometimes muttering something .
She’ll pick up the broom and ‘pochha’ and start off . Talking generally , asking me about how many years are left , complaining of her family and pausing to watch tv or peep into my lappy .
She’ll get scolded . Sometimes shouted at ( you have to raise your voice to make her listen anyways ) . Next day ,she’ll be back …
As happy and apologetic as ever .
Ask her about how she’s feeling and she’ll start off ,
“Humko chutti nahi milti bhaiya” ( I don’t get leave )
“I have to work for 10 hours straight”
“My husband/daughter/son/grandson did this and that”
Which brings us to the family .
She has 8-9 kids . Some married , one daughter burnt for dowry or something . Somebody in the family is always sick .
None of them are literate . Her husband was addicted to booze . And domestic violence ensued . One girl ran away with a guy or something…
And yet , She’s survived it all .
Somehow managing to hold all of them ( and their extended families ) under one roof and running around tirelessly most of the time .
And for those of you , who get tired after a day at college , here’s the frail woman’s schedule …
Gets up at 7 . Washes dishes for the entire household .
Walks 8-10 km. from her house
Visits 2-3 houses . Cleans utensils , floor and everything there .
Again , goes back 8-10 km. again .Cooks food at her place. Rushes back to those 2-3 houses again in the evening .
And then goes back at night .
To cook more food and put the kids to sleep.
This , 365 days of the year . As she said “no chutti”
So , next time , you think you life’s tough . Think twice …
There is an abundance of such inspiration all around .
*sorry , couldn’t get her photo . She‘s camera conscious :-) *
Haha...she's camera conscious, eh?
ReplyDeleteIt is always humbling to learn from those less fortunate than us..if only it should end up teaching us to count our blessings:-)
ure ryt!... same story out here...actually ditto...an old lady.workd at my place...her daughters ....one burnt one ran away.husband doin nthn.n goes on....but the thin here is we r actually blessed nt becoz we hav lots of luxuries n stuff but cz of d education......r families r educatd..tht is y we r here!
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