A valiant smile

This woman's hopeful smile helped her remain brave and unfazed through all her odds.

We meet them everyday. But often we are so used to them that we take them for granted. People who are challenged by the difficulties and misfortunes life places in their paths. With few people to help and little money, they have to fight against such difficulties alone.

 A few years ago at Cochin, where we lived, one of our helpers in the house, was a typical example of a courageous lady. A healthy woman who was a good worker, she was married with two children, and her husband was an auto-driver. Their greatest asset was a small double-storied house they owned, which the husband’s father had given to his two sons.

The husband’s income from the auto-rickshaw and the fact that they did not have to pay any rent saw them through the month. She was a stay-at-home wife and was secretly proud of it. I think she felt that the fact that she was not working proved that her husband was earning enough for them to live by his work. And then tragedy struck.
The younger brother, always a bit of an unreliable man came up with an idea of starting  a small business. To this day I do not know the exact nature of that job, all I know was that they had to put the house as surety to get the money. The helper’s husband, a simpleton with very little knowledge about business of any kind, was easily won over.  

The word ‘business’ is a magic word for many people. It implies respectability, a well-to-do lifestyle, and a road to prosperity. Matters moved fast. Papers were signed. They hoped that the ownership of the house would be theirs again as soon as the business got on its way and the bank loan was paid. The matter was left in the younger brother’s ‘capable’ hands.

But when the business failed, the bank wanted its pound of flesh and claimed the house. On the appointed date they had to move, bag and baggage to a house rented at a high rate. All the little luxuries they enjoyed disappeared. Something had to be done to survive.
The elder daughter-in-law took an important decision. She was going to find  a household where she could work as a domestic servant. She looked around for a suitable place...and  luckily for us, she found us! My family was running a small office in the house. So she announced to all and sundry that she was working in an office!  
One day when she and I were working in the kitchen she told me her story. She cried a little as she told it, especially the loss of the house. She described the house, how nice it was, how well she had looked after her part of it.  
“We will never be able to get such a house again,  It would cost too much. I knew it was a mistake to pledge the house. But he would not listen.” She dried her eyes and smiled.

And that smile was what sustained her. She smiled when she entered the house, and often during the day, and she smiled when she said she was going in the evening. Now she must be living in the hope that the children will study well, get good job and in the far future she will perhaps live in a house owned by her son.

Our brave and ever-smiling helper!  May her dream come true!