SPECIAL REPORT When you are poor and don't have the man of the family alive, you have to take family's responsibility in your hands, says a woman who is the only lady working as a coolie at the Jaipur railway station.
Hailing from a village in Phulera tehsil of Rajasthan, she lost her husband (Mahadev) one year ago. He used to work as a coolie at Jaipur railway station.
After having lost him, she decided she would move from her village to the city and take up his job so that she could feed her three children- two daughters studying in 5th and 8th standard and a son in 2nd standard.
"Once I lost him, I decided that if he could earn Rs 500-600 per day, I could at least earn Rs 200-300 per day. So, I wore his uniform and set off for work," she said.
However, she accepts it wasn't too easy for her to adjust with the 177 male counterparts she works with at the station.
"I struggled in the initial few days. I would hesitate sitting with other men. I had never worn shoes and now that I had to, I developed puss in my feet. Soon, I fell sick and had to be admitted to the hospital. Just when I was about to give up, my mom told me we had nothing to survive on- no land, no fields for farming. I had no option but to adjust with the pressures and work for my kids," she told INNLIVE.
Her parents and in-laws are not alive. She has one brother and six sisters who are also poverty-stricken like her and are themselves struggling to earn a living.
Almost a year on, she has now come to terms with the job and talks highly of all the male coolies who extend her a helping hand as and when she needs it.
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