On grit and determination

I decided to take the public transport that day back home from office. I got into the bus. I bought the ticket from the conductor and then put on my headphones to listen to the radio. A few minutes later, I felt a nudge on my arm and I see a woman, clad in a burqa, sitting on a seat, signalling me to occupy the vacant seat next to her.

I sat next to her and thanked her. She smiled and after a few minutes, she asked “do you work?” in Hindi. I smiled and said, “yes”. She enquired what work I did. I replied that I worked at a company. She smiled and said,” auraton ko apne pairo par khada hona zarurai hai” (Women should stand on their feet). “I work too,” were her next words and I saw a glint of pride in her eyes while she spoke.

I grew inquisitive and wanted to know more. I switched off the radio and asked her where was she working. She said that she worked at two places. In the morning, she worked as a house-keeping staff in a software firm and in the evening she worked as a main in a software engineer’s house.

Her husband had abandoned her and her two children to marry someone else. Since then she has been the sole bread-earner of the house. Her two children, a boy and a girl, go to school. She wants them to read well and stand on their feet, especially her daughter and she doesn’t want to leave a stone unturned to accomplish that.

She added that she gets up early, cooks breakfast and send the kids to school and then leaves for her work. Then comes back and cooks lunch. The kids return from school and she has her meals with them. She then sends them to tuition and leaves for her second work. The kids return from tuition and get busy with their homework and after she returns back, cooks dinner and has a happy meal with her kids and gets ready for the next day’s battle.

The bus was reaching her stop and she got up. She looked at me and waved a Bye. I couldn’t help but say, you are an amazing woman and all she said was “hamare liye dua karna” (pray for us). The strength of a woman lies in her grit to excel.